(Field Level Media) Domantas Sabonis, T.J. McConnell and T.J. Warren led a well-balanced attack with 17 points apiece and the host Indiana Pacers downed the Detroit Pistons 112-106 yesterday.
Sabonis also supplied 14 rebounds and six assists, while McConnell dished out nine assists for Indiana, which gained some revenge for two losses to Detroit earlier this season. Justin Holiday had 16 points, Doug McDermott tossed in 14 and Malcolm Brogdon added 11 for the Pacers.
Luke Kennard poured in 29 points for the Pistons. Langston Galloway contributed 19 points off the bench, while Andre Drummond had 15 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists despite foul trouble. Markieff Morris added 13 points and Tony Snell chipped in 11.
Indiana shot 51.8 percent from the field while Detroit made 45.3 percent of its attempts.
Both teams were short-handed due to injuries. The Pacers played without Myles Turner, Goga Bitadze, Jeremy Lamb, Victor Oladip and Edmond Sumner. The Pistons didn’t have Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson, Derrick Rose and Tim Frazier.
The Pacers were down 15 points in the opening quarter but led 57-53 at halftime. They scored 14 unanswered points late in the half after Drummond picked up his third foul and retreated to the bench.
Indiana took control with a 15-2 run to open the second half. Drummond collected his fourth foul during that span and soon went back to the bench. Warren was the sparkplug, scoring nine of those points.
The Pacers maintained a double-digit lead most of the quarter and took an 85-72 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Snell made back-to-back threes to cut Indiana’s lead to 89-80. McConnell hit four consecutive shots to nudge Indiana’s lead up to 10 at 100-90. McConnell soon found Sabonis for a layup with 4:38 left to make it 104-92.
Snell drained another three with two minutes left to cut Indiana’s lead to 108-102. Snell had a chance to make it a three-point game but missed his next deep try and a Sabonis tap-in finished off the Pistons.