Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

Hornets at Pacers%2C 7 p.m. Wednesday%2C FSI

CHICAGO – A year ago Sunday they arrived here the toast of the Association, armed with the league's most rigid defense, its most complete starting five and its only unblemished record.

Life was good for the Indiana Pacers last November. They traveled to Chicago for an early-season showdown with the Bulls having blitzed to a 9-0 start on the year, finest in the franchise's 45-year history. The wins were stacking up, the buzz building. Title talk simmered in Indianapolis.

The Pacers fell by 16 that night in Chicago, but the loss proved to be only a blip on the radar. Just how good was Indiana playing a year ago at this time? Consider: That defeat to the Bulls was their only one in November. They won the other 16. And by mid-January, they were a sizzling 33-7.

All that has transpired in the 12 months since — four-fifths of the Pacers' starting lineup is different from that night in Chicago — makes what we witnessed Saturday night at the United Center all the more satisfying for the blue and gold.

This was a surprising yet sound 99-90 victory, one earned the hard way, one earned with 21 points each from the likes of Luis Scola, Solomon Hill and A.J. Price.

Who, you ask?

That's exactly the point.

Coupled with Wednesday's victory in Miami, the Pacers have now toppled two of the Eastern Conference's elite in four nights. And they've done it with the firepower of a D-League affiliate.

"It feels good going into these games undermanned and as the underdog," said Price, pitching in on an injury exception while the usual starters rehab. "We know we aren't supposed to win the game, according to everybody else at least."

No, they're not, but they won it with an old-fashioned formula: Indiana outworked one of the hardest working teams in the NBA. After the Nuggets pounded the Pacers 108-87 on Friday, coach Frank Vogel said he hoped his squad stepped on the court Saturday night "pissed off."

Asked after the nine-point victory if that's what he saw, Vogel smiled.

"Absolutely," he said.

Indiana (4-7) was through much of this one precisely what it's been all season – gritty and gutsy, a group short on talent but long on spirit. They simply played without fear. No matter the superior (not to mention healthier) competition they faced, Indiana would scrape its way as best it could.

Saturday night the Pacers scraped as well as they have at any point this season, and making the victory even sweeter, they did so against a Tom Thibodeau-coached Bulls team renown for its workmanlike, defensive-first credo.

"You can't think about records," Hill said. "Throw those out the window. They don't matter."

They proved it Saturday. Indiana's lead swelled to as many as 17 midway through the fourth quarter – their largest of the season – until Chicago's Jimmy Butler, who led the Bulls (7-3) with 32 points, piloted a one-man show that trimmed the Pacers' lead to as little as 88-81 with a little more than 3 minutes left.

But Indiana dug deep and responded. A runner from Chris Copeland (who had 13 points) and a 3-pointer from Hill sealed it. They were bit players a season ago; Copeland and Hill barely saw the floor. They are growing up quickly a year later.

"I believe in the guys we have on the court," said Roy Hibbert, the only current holdover from last year's starting five. "Guys are in different roles than they're used to. But it shows our resolve that we're able to compete at a high level with all those guys out."

Hibbert had eight points and seven rebounds, and was the steady rim-protector the Pacers require. Chicago, playing without Derrick Rose yet again – strained hamstring this time – got too little from Pau Gasol (12 points) and Joakim Noah (seven points).

It undoubtedly was a win to savor, even amidst the 82-game gauntlet of the NBA grind. No team this side of the Cleveland Cavaliers has undergone such a stark shift in the NBA landscape from a season ago. The Pacers will take wins any way they can get them.

Perhaps no statistic better exemplifies Indiana's current plight: Last season, players missed 69 games due to injury. And that was over the course of a seven-month season.

This season, they've missed 56.

And it's only Nov. 16.

"If you have guys out, you have to have guys step up, that's all there is to it," Vogel said. "No one's feeling sorry for you. You gotta bring it the next night."

They brought it on this night, brought it this past week. The Pacers have won three of four, making due just fine with the hand they've been dealt.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

Hornets at Pacers, 7 p.m. Wednesday, FSI