INDIANAPOLIS, United States // Detroit threw a surprise road block in Indiana’s path to the Eastern Conference’s top seed.
Now the Pacers face another daunting task – winning at Miami to avoid their first losing streak of the season.
Josh Smith scored 30 points, Brandon Jennings added 18 and Greg Monroe finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds to help the Pistons stun Indiana 101-96 Monday night and hand the Pacers their first home defeat this season.
“We’re going to have a target on our back all year,” Pacers guard George Hill said. “We’ve had some success so far, so we’re taking everyone’s best shot and today we didn’t come to play.”
It was evident right from the start that this was not the same Indiana team that set a franchise record by starting 9-0 overall and another by opening the season 11-0 at home.
Some wondered before the game whether the Pacers (20-4) might get caught looking past the Pistons (12-14), who have won two of their last six, and ahead to Wednesday night’s marquee rematch with Miami. Indiana defeated the two-time defending champs 99-94 in Indy last week and head to South Beach for the first time since losing Game 7 of the conference finals in June.
Coach Frank Vogel downplayed the notion Indiana were distracted, saying before and after the game that his team were not “looking ahead at all.”
On the court, though, the Pacers did not play their game.
The Pistons were tougher inside, tougher on defence and tougher at fending off challenges. And the Eastern Conference’s top team looked like anything but as Detroit played almost flawlessly and beat Indiana at their own game by dominating the middle.
“It’s impressive the way we came in and competed with the way the Pacers have been playing,” Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said. “We have a good basketball team.”
The Pistons held a 55-40 rebounding advantage and a lopsided 20-9 edge on offensive rebounds, something Paul George contended threw the Pacers off.
Detroit also outscored Indiana 44-38 in the paint and 22-14 on second-chance points while shooting 43.2 percent from the field, the same as Indiana.
For a Pacers team that pride themselves on defence and rebounding, it wasn’t even close to their best as they tuned up for Miami.
Indiana never tied the score in the second half and never took the lead on their home floor, falling to the second-best record in the league, percentage points behind Portland (21-4).
The Pistons knew that to end their six-game losing streak in this series and their nine-game losing streak at Bankers Life Fieldhouse they had to execute the game plan flawlessly. They did.
Meanwhile, Miami faced their own unexpected challenge Monday night when struggling Utah played better than advertised in the first half. Unlike the Pacers, though, Miami seized control over the final two quarters and pulled away for a 117-94 win.
Whatever the explanation, Indiana weren’t the same.
Paul George was 4-of-14 from the field, finishing with 17 points, nine rebounds and four turnovers. Roy Hibbert had six points and four rebounds. Even the energetic Lance Stephenson couldn’t get his flustered teammates righted. Stephenson scored a career best 23 points and Luis Scola added a season high 18.
When asked if he was looking forward to the rematch, George said: “I am. The good thing about the NBA is the quick turnarounds.”
And there is plenty to work on after Monday’s stunner.
OTHER MONDAY RESULTS
Heat 117, Jazz 94
LeBron James appeared to sprain his left ankle and exited the game in the third quarter only to return triumphantly in the fourth and finish with 30 points in Miami’s win.
Dwyane Wade had 27 points and the Heat (18-6) are now 4-1 in their past five games and are in second place in the Eastern Conference.
The Jazz (6-21) have lost six of their past eight games and are in last place in the Western Conference.
Celtics 101, Timberwolves 97
Jared Sullinger hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put Boston ahead to stay with 2:22 left and the surprising Celtics knocked off Minnesota.
Sullinger finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. The win, Boston’s second straight and eighth in the past 12 games, raised the Celtics, a team that were expected to be fighting for a lottery spot, to 12-14 on the season.
Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves (12-13) who played without guard Kevin Martin (knee) and his average of 20.6 points per game.
Hawks 114, Lakers 100
The Atlanta Hawks hit 11 3-pointers and pulled away from the Lakers in the second half for a big victory.
The Hawks (13-12) outscored the Lakers 35-19 in the third quarter en route to posting a season-high point total.
In his fifth game since returning from an Achilles injury, Kobe Bryant struggled in recording six assists, five turnovers and eight points on 4-of-14 shooting. The Lakers (11-13) fell to 1-4 with Bryant on the court.
Magic 83, Bulls 82
Arron Afflalo scored 23 points, and the Orlando Magic survived a late-game dry spell to pull out a victory over the Chicago Bulls.
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Bulls had a chance to tie the score, but forward Luol Deng missed a cutting layup attempt with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Deng led the Bulls with 26 points, but they fell to 3-10 since losing Derrick Rose to a knee injury.
Wizards 102, Knicks 101
Martell Webster scored 30 points off the bench, and guard Bradley Beal had 21, including the game-winning layup with 6.9 seconds remaining, as the Washington Wizards snapped a four-game losing streak.
With the Knicks leading by a point in the final seconds, Beal drove past guar Beno Udrih on an isolation play along the left wing.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks (7-17) with 32 points, but he missed a running 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Nets 130, 76ers 94
Joe Johnson scored a season-high 37 points and made an NBA season-high 10 3-pointers to guide the Brooklyn Nets to a blowout victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Johnson set a career high for 3-pointers in a game as Brooklyn (9-15) ran away from Philadelphia (7-19) in the second half where they outscored them 72-46.
Clippers 115, Spurs 92
Balke Griffin scored 27 and Chris Paul added 23 as Los Angeles (17-9) pulled off a rare blowout of San Antonio (19-5).
DeAndre Jordan also pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked three shots for the Clippers, with Griffin collecting nine boards. Paul added eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
Manu Ginobili came off the bench to score 16 on 8-of-11 shooting for the Spurs and Tim Duncan had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in the loss.
