Pacers face Bulls in two-game preseason tilt

In a rematch from the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs, the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls will play a home-and-home for the only two preseason games of the upcoming shortened 2011-12 season.

According to NBA.com, the Pacers host the Bulls to Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7 PM. Then, the two will play again in Chicago on Dec. 20 at 8 PM EST.

Indiana will officially announce the preseason dates in a 10 am news conference on Tuesday morning.

The Bulls defeated the Pacers in five games last season to advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Led by NBA MVP Derrick Rose, the Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks but then lost in five games to the Miami Heat in the conference finals.

The full preseason and regular season schedule will be released Dec. 5th at 7 PM on a NBATV special. Each team will play 48 conference games and 18 non-conference games. And because of the shortened schedule, every team will play at least one back-to-back-to-back, but no more than three.

For complete details on how the 2011-12 schedule is formed, click here.