Five down 77 to go

The Pacers moved to 5-0 for the first time since the beginning of the 1971-72 season with Wednesday night's 97-80 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The Big Picture
It's a little difficult to tell what this means for the long term, but no matter how you slice it, it's good for the Pacers. To come home on the second night of a back-to-back when the Bulls were rested and waiting, and finish them off with a big fourth quarter, when maybe the Pacers should have been the team a little fatigued, was a pretty good early season statement.
Likes

David West had a big third quarter on the way
 to 17 points and 13 rebounds

1) There was no reason to panic over a bit of a slow start to the season by David West, but it was nice to see him join the so-called party Wednesday night. West had a big third quarter and finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds. But maybe the bigger factor is that his counterpart, the Bulls' Carlos Boozer, who came in shooting over 70 percent from the field, the best mark in the league, was just 3 for 10 with six points. West seems to rise to the occasion in big games when he has a direct challenger and it was good to see that again Wednesday night.
2) There were probably many of us thinking in the first half of the game, that well, OK, Lance Stephenson is still a young player and he's going to have bad games. He did not score in the half and had three fouls and given his overall progress as a player, a bad game here or there is understandable. But Stephenson was a key player in the fourth-quarter run that gave the Pacers the lead for good and finished with 15 points. It was nice to see him re-gather himself after a poor first half and pick up his play in the second half. It's a sign of maturity for Stephenson and a big step in the right direction for his personal game and good news for the Pacers.
3) I could mention Paul George in this category for nearly every game. But again, this isn't about a big shot he made, this is one of those little things you like to see from a guy who is a star, but also still a team player. George wasn't having his best shooting night as he finished 6 for 18 from the floor. So in the third quarter, he took a pass at the top of the key and instead of trying to force the action, he immediately whipped the ball over to a wide open C.J. Watson who hit the 3-pointer. Kind of a little thing, but kind of a big thing, too.
Dislikes
1) It's hard to find many of these in this game, but the second quarter again wasn't good. The Pacers saw a six-point first-quarter lead turn into a six-point halftime deficit by the end of the half as they scored just 12 points in the quarter. Part of this is that Pacers coach Frank Vogel stays with his reserves a bit longer here, presumably saving them for the fourth quarter, so you've got the other team's starters going against mostly reserves for the Pacers for a three- or four-minute stretch. We've seen that pay off in the second half in the last two games. However, it would be nice to avoid that second-quarter slump.
2) To beat the Bulls by 17 at any point in the season is nice, but Pacer fans shouldn't go nuts about it yet. Bulls point guard Derrick Rose didn't play last year and while he still has that lightning-quick first step, he's still not in sync yet and he probably won't be until about 20 games into the season. Also, for the Bulls, Joakim Noah missed almost all of the preseason, and he's clearly still finding his timing and getting his legs underneath him as well. So, just saying like it or not, the Bulls will be back to fight another day.
Second guesses
1) First, I will say I liked that Vogel got a technical foul and it's always good for a coach stand up for his team when he thinks there is a highly questionable call. But just like he did at the end of the first half Tuesday in Detroit, the Pacers had the ball to end the first half and he didn't call a timeout to set up a play. Instead it was George going one-on-one, which is not the worst option these days, that resulted in a missed shot. Also, the other reason this is important is that it will help develop the team's confidence in last-second situations at the end of games and also will let the coaches see how a player responds under a bit of pressure. I think Vogel is an outstanding coach, but this is a situation I think he could handle better.
Next up
The Pacers are home against the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m. Friday night. The Raptors are 2-3 to start the season and it will be a return to The Fieldhouse for Tyler Hansbrough and D.J. Augustin. The Raptors have an athletic player in DeMar DeRozan, who can be an exciting player to watch. Hopefully the highlights for Toronto will be at a minimum as the Pacers look to start 6-0 for the first time since the 1970-71 season.