| Re: Indiana Jan 28th 6:30 PM
Sprocket Cap
Detroit 95 / Indiana 87
It doesn’t seem to matter who is inside those blue jerseys, a game against the Pacers is always a tough intense battle. Tonight the Pistons got win 500 for Flip Saunders behind 37 points, 20 rebounds, 8 blocks, and 3 assists from Wallace and Webber. McDyess’ 13 points and 11 boards finished the dominant front line performance.
The first quarter opened with a very active Rasheed Wallace. He picked up a couple of points, a couple of boards, 3 blocks, 2 fouls, and his 13th technical of the season before heading to the bench halfway through the first with the Pistons up 11-6 and Indiana shooting 30%. The Pistons don’t let up though and end the first up 15, 27-12. They have eight assists and no turnovers in the quarter.
The Pistons hold the lead at 15 for the first four minutes of the second behind an offensive barrage from McDyess who reaches 12 points, 6 boards, and a block by the 7:36 mark. From then on it’s all Indiana who outscore the Pistons 23-12 the rest of the way. Indy shoots 53% in the second and puts together a 21-9 run to end the quarter down four at 47-43.
The third starts pretty much like the first, with a bucket by Wallace, followed by one by Webber, giving Webber 9 points and 11 boards on the night. Play gets ugly for a couple of minutes ending with O’Neal fouling Wallace on a three point try. Rasheed makes all three free throws. A Webber basket and a Wallace 3 put the Pistons up 64-49 at the six minute mark. Rasheed has 14 points in the third, but the Indiana offense beings to click and they outscore the Pistons 16-10 the rest of the way. The third ends with the Pistons up 9, 74-65.
Indiana makes a run to start the fourth while the Pistons go cold, starting the quarter 0-8. The rest of the fourth is back and forth intense basketball. O’Neal’s fifth foul around the six minute mark opens some room for the Pistons who push the lead back to six behind a jumper from Rip and a nice layup after an offensive board from Webber. The lead is back to ten by the two minute mark. From then on in, it’s mostly a free throw shooting contest for the Pistons who make up the final margin behind four from Rip.
The Pistons continue to shoot the ball poorly, 37% FG, 29% from three, but make up the difference tonight at the line, shooting 33 for 38, and outscoring Indiana by 13 from the stripe. The Pistons finish with 8 turnovers, after only committing two in the first half. McDyess, Hunter, Delfino, Maxiel, and Davis play off the bench but only McDyess makes a field goal (finishing 4-11 in 23 minutes).
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Jimi |