by Wheat Hotchkiss
After a week in the national spotlight thanks to their run to the In-Season Tournament Championship game, the Pacers (12-8) are back to the regular season grind on Monday, when they tip off a four-game road trip in Detroit against the scuffling Pistons (2-20).
The Pacers won over a lot of fans with their tournament run. They knocked off Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday in the Quarterfinals to advance to Las Vegas, where they ousted Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Busks. Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the Los Angeles Lakers thwarted their championship hopes, however, besting Indiana in Saturday’s title game, 123-109.
Tyrese Haliburton was an All-Star last year, but he’s now a household name and an emerging superstar thanks to his performance in the In-Season Tournament. The 23-year-old point guard averaged 26.7 points, 13.3 assists, and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from 3-point range over seven IST games.
“Obviously, Tyrese Haliburton is now a name that everyone knows,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s going to be in the conversation for a lot of things from All-Star to All-NBA to MVP based on not just this tournament, but what he’s been doing every single game this year.”
The Pacers now face the unique challenge of going from playing for a championship to resuming the regular season less than 48 hours later. It would seem only natural to have some degree of an emotional letdown in those circumstances, and the fact that the Blue & Gold are facing a Pistons team mired in a long losing streak will make it even more of a test for Indiana’s mental fortitude.
Detroit has the worst record in the NBA and has dropped 19 straight games. The Pistons’ last win came on Oct. 28 against Chicago. They haven’t been especially competitive recently, either. Only one of the Pistons’ last seven losses was by single digits, and that was still a nine-point defeat.
The Pistons aren’t completely devoid of talent, however. Third-year guard Cade Cunningham is averaging 22 points and 7.3 assists and tallied 31 points in Detroit’s first meeting with Indiana on Nov. 24. Former Purdue All-American Jaden Ivey also had 26 in that contest. The Pacers allowed 86 points in the paint to the Lakers on Saturday, an area Cunningham, Ivey, and the Pistons will try to attack early and often on Monday.
Projected Starters
Pacers: G – Tyrese Haliburton, G – Buddy Hield, F – Bruce Brown, F – Obi Toppin, C – Myles Turner
Pistons: G – Cade Cunnigham, G – Killian Hayes, F – Bojan Bogdanovic, F – Isaiah Stewart, C – Marvin Bagley III
Injury Report
Pacers: Aaron Nesmith – questionable (right hip bruise), Andrew Nembhard – out (right knee bone bruise), Jalen Smith – out (left knee bone bruise/left heel contusion)
Pistons: Marvin Bagley III – doubtful (right lower back spasms), Jalen Duren – out (left ankle sprain), Monte Morris – out (right quadriceps strain)
Last Meeting
Nov. 24, 2023: The Pacers closed the game with a 32-9 run to beat the Pistons in an In-Season Tournament game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 136-113. The victory secured a 4-0 record for the Pacers in Group Play and guaranteed that they would host a Quarterfinal game.
Tyrese Haliburton had been questionable for the game with a sprained right wrist and played with it heavily taped, but the All-Star guard still managed to tally a team-high 26 points and 10 assists, going 5-for-13 from 3-point range.
Myles Turner added 23 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks. Buddy Hield finished with 18 points in the win, Bennedict Mathurin added 15 off the bench, while Obi Toppin also tallied 15 going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Cade Cunningham led all scorers with 31 points and had five assists, going 10-for-26 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Jaden Ivey added 25 points for Detroit, while Jalen Duren recorded a double-double off the bench with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Noteworthy
- The Pacers are 108-102 all-time against the Pistons, but 39-65 in games played in Detroit. The Blue & Gold have dropped five of their last seven contests at Little Caesars Arena.
- Indiana and the Pistons will meet again on Feb. 22 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and in Detroit on March 20.
- With a loss on Monday, the Pistons would be just the 14th team in NBA history to lose 20 consecutive games and only the eighth to lose 20 straight games in a single season. The longest losing streak in league history is 28 games by Philadelphia across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. The 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 Sixers share the record for most consecutive losses in a single season with 26.
- Former Pacers forward Bojan Bogdanovic (who started 161 games for the Blue & Gold from 2017-19) made his season debut after missing the start of the season with a calf strain. Bogdanovic scored 22 points in each of his first two games and had nine points on Friday night in Orlando. He is 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from 3-point range.
Broadcast Information (TV and Radio Listings)
TV: Bally Sports Indiana – Chris Denari (play-by-play), Quinn Buckner (analyst), Jeremiah Johnson (sideline reporter/host)
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan – Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Pat Boylan (studio host)
Tickets
The Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to host Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, Dec. 18 at 7:00 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com