INDIANAPOLIS _ As they coasted to a 3-0 start, drawing national attention as one of the league's early surprises, the Chicago Bulls reminded anyone listening they hadn't faced any adversity yet.
Adversity is as much a part of any NBA season as winter. It's just how teams handle it that often defines success.
Just as a three-game winning streak represents a small sample size, so does a three-game losing streak. But the Bulls' 111-94 clunker to the Pacers on Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse continued troubling trends.
Slow starts. Lack of pace offensively. Isolation play. Turnovers. Poor defense.
No wonder the Pacers flipped the script to the tune of 34 points, avenging last week's 17-point loss at the United Center. Not even Paul George's ejection late in the third quarter for kicking a ball into the stands and hitting a fan could save the Bulls.
"We knew we were going to hit adversity at one point. We didn't know it'd be now," said Jimmy Butler, who tied Bobby Portis for team-high honors with 16 points. "We can't start games like this, dig ourselves a hole, come out with no energy. We don't even look like we're out there competing.
"It's going to have to be me to lead the charge when it comes to coming out with the right energy, making sure we're doing everything we're supposed to do at both ends. I'm definitely capable of doing that. I can't come out lackadaisical. I have to make sure everybody is doing what they're supposed to do. That's on us. That's not even on the coaches. I haven't started out as aggressive as I should. I should always be the most aggressive one coming out of the gate."
Fittingly on a night the Bulls committed 18 turnovers that led to 24 Pacers' points and trailed by as many as 27, there wasn't even unanimous agreement within the locker room whether adversity can occur this early in a season.
"I can't call every loss a slap in the face," said Dwyane Wade, who missed his first eight shots and managed just four points. "You're going to lose games in this league. It definitely can get worse. We're still early in this season. I said after we won those three, we have the blueprint of what success is for us. We just have to get to it.
"It's good early on that we're going through this. We can't go through this all year like this. But early on, you want to go through it, figure your way out of it. So when you go through a slump later in the season, you know how you're going to respond."
Butler and Wade did agree on at least one thing.
"Our starters have to do a better job," Wade said.
The Pacers entered last in the league in points allowed, surrendering an average of 115 in their first five games. But the Bulls played with little pace or ball movement throughout in their first back-to-back test of the season.
Defensively, the Bulls were beat consistently in transition and shredded in pick-and-roll coverage. The Pacers, topped by Jeff Teague's 21 points, shot 53.5 percent overall and 12-for-26 from 3-point range.
Given how short of a flight the Bulls had following Friday's loss to the Knicks, fatigue shouldn't have been an issue, even if the Bulls were finishing three games in four nights.
"We looked like a tired team," coach Fred Hoiberg said.
George, who left at the 1 minute, 42 second mark of the third, tried to kick the ball into the basket stanchion in frustration. He missed and hit a fan in the face, which surely will draw attention from the league office.
George went and hugged the fan for an apology. The Bulls should have followed suit for their performance.
