Pacers at Pistons
The Indiana Pacers are battling for the No. 4 seed in the first round of the playoffs and snapped a three-game slide by turning away the Detroit Pistons 111-102 at home on Monday. The Pistons, who are fighting for one of the final three spots in the East playoff bracket, get a chance for some quick revenge when they host the Pacers on Wednesday.
Nothing much changed in the East on Monday, except sixth-place Detroit came one game closer to locking up its spot in the postseason as Brooklyn, Miami, Orlando and Charlotte all lost as well. "Any time you lose in a tight playoff race, you feel like you've missed an opportunity," Pistons reserve point guard Ish Smith told the team's website. "If we'd have won those during the road (trip last week), we would've had a cushion. If we beat Cleveland (in a mid-March road game), we could've had a cushion. But they're playing for playoff position as well, so it's huge for us to keep playing, keep pushing, keep pressing." Indiana is tied with Boston for the No. 4 spot, but the Celtics own the tiebreaker, and the Pacers need to avoid looking ahead to a home date with Boston on Friday. "We're trying to (turn a new page)," Indiana power forward Thaddeus Young told reporters after snapping the losing streak on Monday. "The biggest thing is just believing and staying the course."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, FS Detroit
ABOUT THE PACERS (46-32): Indiana did not have a player reach 20 points on Monday but shot 54.5 percent from the floor and placed seven scorers in double figures, including reserve guard Aaron Holiday, who scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting and handed out five assists in 25 minutes. "I think he's going to be a really good guard in this league," Pacers coach Nate McMillan told reporters of Holiday. "He's going to be here to play and help us. He keeps himself ready to play and when he's called upon, he's played solid minutes for us. I thought he did a solid job. We kept him in there and he did a good job of keeping Jackson in front and running the offense for us." Holiday was getting extra playing time in the absence of starting point guard Darren Collison, who is day-to-day with a groin injury.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (39-38): All-Star forward Blake Griffin (knee) missed his second consecutive game on Monday and his presence was missed in the paint on the defensive end. "I think they were getting real deep paint points," Detroit point guard Reggie Jackson told reporters of Indiana. "Guards, including myself, defensively we have to be better at keeping their guards out of the paint, allowing our bigs to get back to them so they can't come at our bigs with force. As the game went along, they became the aggressor. We get them in two days. We have to come out and hit first and hit often until the end of the game." Center Andre Drummond tried to make up for the loss of Griffin and collected 18 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and four steals in the loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers SG Wesley Matthews (hamstring) sat out Monday and is day-to-day.
2. Pistons SG Luke Kennard is day-to-day with a foot injury.
3. Detroit knocked off Indiana 113-109 at home on Feb. 25 - its third straight home win in the series.