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Pacers Links: Pacers back home to face Blazers after big win over Bulls

The Pacers win in Chicago wasn't pretty but the W''s all look the same in the standings. Now they have to back it up at home when they face Portland on Wednesday night.

By Tom Lewis

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USA TODAY Sports

The Indiana Pacers gutted out a big W on the road over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday with two guys who have frustrated fans the most, coming up big when it mattered.

Paul George went off in a variety of ways for 34 points which was needed since no one else on either team, save for a couple of stretches from Nate Robinson, was close to going off.

The Pacers held on for the win after Luol Deng ran into Roy Hibbert while attempting to tie the game. Deng was left in a heap on the floor but the officials ruled Hibbert jumped straight up to absorb the contact and didn't call the foul. I'd be furious were I a Bulls fan, but Hibbert has earned a reputation for making a vertical jump around the hoop and that defensive rep paid off. Here's how Frank Vogel described it after the game.

"He's the biggest reason why we lead the league in field-goal defense," Vogel said a few minutes later. "He's the best in the league at exercising the fundamental of verticality. Using his legs, getting off his feet and making a legal defensive play and earning a no-call.

"You're allowed to jump straight up, no matter where you are, and absorb contact. When he learned that and went away from trying to draw charges like he was earlier in his career, he went from not being able to stay on the court to being one of the best defensive centers in the NBA."

Big win on the road for the Pacers. Now they have to come back home and bring it against Portland to make the win in Chicago really mean something.

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