Pacers Take Care of Business, Defeating Pistons 122-103

1. First Quarter

The opening quarter for the Indiana Pacers the last ten or so games have been tough. Indiana did start this game off slow. Detroit jumped ahead 10-2 three minutes into the game with Cade Cunningham scoring four points and assisting on the other three field goals. Rick Carlisle called a timeout and his team responded, but not immediately. Detroit would go keep its lead around five to eight points until Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton took over. After a Cunningham field goal, Siakam scored four points and Haliburton scored a field goal to make it a one-point game. In his first action since February 26th, Doug McDermott gave the Pacers their first lead with a layup. He later gave the team their largest lead in the quarter with a three to make it 26-20. After one quarter, the Pacers led 29-24. Siakam led everyone in scoring with 12 points followed by Cunningham with 10 points.

2. Second Quarter

The Pacers did a solid job to start the second quarter by not letting the Pistons retake the lead. Detroit cut the deficit down to two points seven times, including down to one on two instances. Each time the Pacers responded with a basket. Detroit’s Jalen Duren had a putback dunk with 2:19 remaining that made it 51-50 Indiana. Andrew Nembhard hit a triple on the next Indiana possession to jump start a 12-2 run to close the half. Haliburton scored four of the final six points for the Pacers in the half to go ahead 63-52. Cunningham led all scorers with 17 points followed by 13 points from Siakam. Aaron Nesmith led all players in the quarter with 12 points. Isaiah Jackson was another critical player in the quarter. He only scored two points, but the Pacers were +15 with him on the floor in the first half.

3. Third Quarter

After re-establishing their eleven-point halftime lead nearly three minutes into the second half, the Pacers really blew the door open. Indiana was ahead 67-56 after two Cunningham free throws. The Pacers then went on a 20-5 run to take a dominating 87-61 lead. Haliburton flashed signs from earlier in the season with explosive drives to the rim and even hit a three for the first time in the game and the first time to cap off the run. Siakam was the main source of offense during the run, scoring eight points. Detroit was able to slow the Pacers offense down the final 5:15, but Indiana still led 98-78 after thirty-six minutes of play. Siakam and Haliburton each scored a dozen in the third. The team went 15/21 from the field in the quarter. Siakam led all scorers with 25 points followed by Cunninghame with 23 points.

4. Fourth Quarter

With the Pacers leading by such a significant margin, Rick Carlisle was able to rest his starters for a large chunk of the final quarter. Nembhard played three minutes, Siakam played sixty-nine seconds, and Turner played forty-eight seconds. He put Siakam and Turner back into the game with 7:02 left in the game and immediately hit a three to put the team up a game high twenty-seven. McDermott later set a new game high lead with a pullup jumper that made it 115-87. Everything in the final 5:57 of the game was academic, unless you had bets on the game. Indiana wins in dominating fashion, 122-103.

5. Top Performers

Pascal Siakam (25p, 8r, 4a), Tyrese Haliburton (20p, 9a, 4s), Isaiah Jackson (10p, 11r, 6a, 3s), Aaron Nesmith (14p), and T.J. McConnell (13p, 6a).  For Detroit, Cade Cunningham (23p, 10a, 6r), Jalen Duren (11p, 12r), and Jaden Ivey (15p). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Indiana has now won four consecutive road games
  • All wins have been by 10+ points
    • First time since 2013 and third time in franchise history (1995 the other time)
  • Indiana swept Detroit 4-0 in the season series
  • Isaiah Jackson’s 28 minutes are the most since 2/14/24 at Toronto
    • Scored 10+ points for the 18th time of the year
    • Recorded his 4th double-double of the year
    • Logged a career high 6 assists
  • Tyrese Haliburton scored 20+ points for the 28th time of the campaign
    • Haliburton’s FG% of 69.2% is highest since 75% at Charlotte on 2/4
      • Second highest FG% since returning from hamstring injury on 1/30/23
    • Pascal Siakam scored 20+ points for the 16th time as a Pacer
      • Recorded 5th straight game with 8+ rebounds
        • Averaging 19.7 ppg, 8.5 reb, 3.1 apg this month
      • J. McConnell scored 10+ points for the 24th time of the season
      • Doug McDermott returned for his first appearance since 2/26 vs Toronto
      • Myles Turner is 3 blocks away from setting the franchise record for blocks
        • Jermaine O’Neal holds record with 1,245
      • Indiana tied for 6th in Eastern Conference standings with Philadelphia (PHI owns tiebreaker)
        • Trail Orlando Magic by 2.5 games for 5th
        • Trail New York Knicks by 3 games for 4th
        • Have .5 game lead over Miami Heat (7th)
        • Have 3.5 game lead over Chicago (9th)

7. Next Up

The second game of the five-game road trip for the Indiana Pacers is on Friday night for the first of three games in California against the Golden State Warriors. Starting at 9:30pm with Pat Boylan on 93.5/107.5 The Fan, will be the Kroger Pregame Show. Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play starting at 10pm.