"T.J. Ford darted between two Chicago Bulls players, scooped up the loose ball with two hands and beat everybody down the court with only one thing on his mind in the final minute Sunday.

The Indiana Pacers point guard sized things up and threw down a one-handed dunk.

He turned toward the Bulls bench and let out a roar that could have been mistaken for coming from a 6-10 behemoth as opposed to a wispy 6-foot point guard.

Aggressiveness. Determination. Fight.

That's what Pacers coach Jim O'Brien wanted, and that's what he got in his team's 98-91 victory over the Bulls in a matinee game at Conseco Fieldhouse.

"You can talk about a number of plays down the stretch that we made," Pacers guard Jarrett Jack said. "I thought we just outhustled them."

The Pacers, who remain 31/2 games behind Milwaukee for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, have won two straight games since it was announced their two leading scorers, Danny Granger (foot) and Mike Dunleavy (knee), would be out for an extended time with injuries. They are, surprisingly, 4-1 this year in games played without their top two stars.

"We've had the unfortunate experience of playing without Mike for a large portion of the year, and now that Danny is out for a little bit, we have to step up as a team and try get some wins," Pacers forward Troy Murphy said. "We're a pretty resilient group. It's a big adjustment, especially with Danny out at the end of games.""