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INDIANAPOLIS – The win was by the largest margin the Pacers have had in their 24-12 start this season.
However, it came on a night when Victor Oladipo didn’t reach double figures and the Pacers shot just 5-of-19 from behind the arc.
Starting on the defensive end of the floor, the Pacers dominated the paint and stymied Detroit’s big man duo of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin.
Indiana jumped out to an 8-0 lead on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and never trailed.
Piling up 33 assists was a huge reason why the Pacers pushed their record to a season-best 12 games above .500
“When we have that type of ball movement and are passing to guys when they’re open, we shoot a higher percentage,” Nate McMillan said of his team shooting 60.2 percent from the floor, the second highest of the season. “I thought our guys did a good job of playing early, and when they didn’t have anything early, playing late.”
Oladipo’s quiet night in the point column wasn’t an issue.
The Pacers still had 7 guys in double figures, and received key nights from Darren Collison (19 points and 7 assists) and Domantas Sabonis (19 points and 12 rebounds).
Collison was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor and finished the night with only 1 turnover and 7 assists.
“It’s good to see the ball go into the basket for him,” McMillan said after the blowout. “I thought he was aggressive. I thought our bigs did a good job of setting screens for him and he got a lot of those shots off of ball movement and kicks to the corner where he was able to have his feet set and knock down shots that they practice every day.”
Indiana dominated the paint against the bigger Pistons.
They finished the night with a season-high 68 points in the paint, compared to just 40 for Detroit.
Three Pacers’ Takeaways:
–Winning/Dominating In Other Ways: The Pacers won by a season-best 37 points on Friday night. Yet, they did that on a night when Victor Oladipo scored just 7 points and the Pacers shot 5-of-19 from behind the arc. That’s pretty astonishing. The Pacers were so efficient in the paint, scoring a season-high 68 points and found so many easy baskets behind 33 assists. What we’ve seen more and more out of the 2018-19 Pacers is putting up big nights even when Oladipo isn’t carrying such a massive scoring burden. The All-Star guard did have 7 assists and just 2 turnovers on Friday.
–Collison’s Crisp Night: It seems like every time you hear a small bit of chatter from the ‘Should the Pacers trade Darren Collison?’ rise up, the veteran point guard has a similar night to what he did on Friday. Collison scored 19 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 on the floor, while dishing out 7 assists with only 1 turnover. Over the course of an 82-game season, Collison is never going to be the top 3 or 4 biggest producers for the Pacers. But he’s steady and reliable, and this coaching staff has trust in him. I just can’t see the Pacers moving Collison in the next month or so.
–Winning In The Paint: Detroit is one of the outliers in today’s NBA. They play with two ‘traditional’ bigs in Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin It’s a unique matchup, but the Pacers more than handled it on Friday night. Domantas Sabonis showed why he’s such an important piece off the bench, as he scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench. Myles Turner was 8-of-11 from the floor, scoring 17 points. The Pacers only outrebounded the Pistons by 1 on Friday night, but they put up an eye-popping 68 points in the paint against the All-Star duo of Drummond and Griffin.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-Hawks (Monday, 12/31)
-at Bulls (Friday, 1/4)
-at Raptors (Sunday, 1/6)
-at Cavs (Tuesday, 1/8)
-at Celtics (Wednesday, 1/9)
