Pacers attempt to cut back on mistakes against Bulls

Cutting down on turnovers will be vital for the visiting Indiana Pacers if they are to snap their four-game losing streak at the expense of the Chicago Bulls on Friday.The Pacers committed 12 first-half turnovers — and 16 overall — to fall in a hole and ultimately crash to a 99-90 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in New York. That came after Indiana gave the ball away 21 times in a 122-111 defeat to the host Toronto Raptors the previous night.A repeat of that recklessness likely would be a huge problem against the high-octane offense of the Bulls, who thrive in the open floor.”Turnovers have been a problem for us,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We have real clean quarters and then we have real dirty quarters with turnovers.”It bit us again. … Those are controllable things. We’ve got to keep working on it. Really no excuses for it.”The Pacers’ problems perhaps are partly down to a difficult itinerary.”We’re back-to-back — it’s a lousy travel situation,” Carlisle said of the consecutive games at Toronto and Brooklyn. “It’s hell getting out in and out of New York, we got to the hotel at 2:30 (Wednesday morning). That contributes a little bit to it, but our guys kept fighting.”Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 points in Brooklyn, while T.J. McConnell added 14 off of what has been a productive bench, despite Indiana’s ills.Both will be key players in the Pacers’ backcourt against Chicago, with Andrew Nembhard in some doubt after sitting out the Wednesday loss to manage his left knee tendinitis.The Bulls, chasing their third consecutive victory, will be completing the second leg of their own back-to-back set. They cruised to a 139-124 road triumph over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.