The Bulls didn’t give up 120 points Saturday night in Indianapolis.

They didn’t get outrebounded, they won the free-throw-line battle and shot better from three-point range than the Pacers.

All steps of progress.

One problem — they also didn’t win.

Thanks to a pump-fake pull-up jumper from 14 feet away as the final horn was about to sound, Pacers forward Pascal Siakam handed the Bulls a third straight loss, as well as their fourth in the last five games, with a 103-101 decision.

How the Bulls have been losing was an obvious concern, especially after a stellar 5-1 start to the season, but who they have been losing to is the real punch in the face. They started the road trip against the two-win Pelicans and lost, tripped up against the four-win Hornets and now were done in by the three-win Pacers.

The main culprit in all three was not getting key stops when needed, whether it was an offensive rebound by the opposition or letting opponents blow by for easy baskets. The defense remains a concern for Billy Donovan’s 9-10 crew.

“On drives, that has been a challenge for us where we’ve had the ball driven through us quite honestly to the basket,” Donovan said. “I think we have to be better absorbing the first dribble. The rebounding has been a challenge for us; we’ve got to do a better job in those areas. I would say our biggest challenge has been the controlling of the basketball, in particular one-on-one and in space.”

Josh Giddey led the Bulls with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

If there was any good news to come out of the game, it was Coby White. After not playing in the back-to-back games Friday and Saturday because of a calf strain he suffered in August, he won’t be restricted again.