It was just a breakaway dunk, something you see in every NBA game. Every high school game, for that matter. Darren Collison, though, is just 6-foot tall. And he's 31 years old. And he's playing in his 10th NBA season. And he's had his share of knee injuries, like any other NBA veteran.
So, that breakaway dunk early in the third quarter of the Pacers' 37-point victory over Detroit Friday night wasn't just another dunk. It was his first dunk of the season, and equaled the number of dunks he had all of last season.
Turns out there's also a story behind it, one that reflects the camaraderie and spirit that is making the Pacers one of the NBA's most intriguing teams.
Collison's dunk, set up by Thaddeus Young's hustling steal, set off a manic celebration on the Pacers' bench. Teammates stood and screamed, jumped up and down, and ran in place to vent their joy.
Victor Oladipo, with help from Young, then picked off another steal that led to Collison hitting a step-back 3-pointer, which increased the Pacers' lead to 18 points and forced a Pistons timeout.
With Bankers Life Fieldhouse going bonkers, Myles Turner ran up to Collison, crouched, and pretended to take pictures of him, paparazzi-style. Collison, meanwhile, was laughing and pointing toward the bench at someone, then waved his hand from side to side.
He likely was addressing Tyreke Evans. The two have had a running commentary the past few weeks on who was going to execute the most dunks this season. Evans has just one, which came early in the blowout victory at Utah on Nov. 26 when the Pacers were beginning a four-game road trip. But that was one more than Collison, and Evans had been declaring Collison wasn't going to get any.
"They've been talking stuff for a couple of weeks about this dunk," Young said. "We all went crazy because we didn't think he was going to do it."
Teammates were still talking about it when the media was let into the locker room. TJ Leaf, who dresses two locker stalls to the right of Collison, came back from his shower, looked at Collison with a wide smile and said, "Staring at the rim, bro!" Turner, meanwhile, was watching a replay of it on his phone.
So, anyway, Collison has tied Evans in the dunk category.
"It's one-to-one now," Young declared as Evans headed out of the locker room.
"I'm about to get three, watch," Evans said, smiling.
"D.C. jumped a little higher than Tyreke did, so it's looking like D.C. might get more," Young said loudly.
"My knee was messed up, man," Evans said.
Evans' knee is better now, and the Pacers are better than they've been all season. Better than at any time last season, too, and for that matter anytime since early in the 2013-14 season. The margin of their 125-88 victory has to be taken with an asterisk, because the Pistons turned in a performance so blatantly poor that they conducted a team meeting afterward in the locker room and coach Dwane Casey apologized to the Pistons' fans. The most glaring display of negligence came in the second quarter when Domantas Sabonis grabbed a rebound underneath Detroit's basket and began dribbling upcourt. Nobody bothered to confront him, so he just kept dribbling and dunked the ball at the other end. Truth be told, Collison's dunk was made possible by Reggie Jackson inexplicably turning his back and allowing Collison a free path to the basket.
Still, the Pacers were exceptional in their effort and execution at both ends of the court. They made endless hustle plays, even when up by large margins, something they have rarely done the past two seasons. Young and Turner were diving on the floor for loose balls. Sabonis battled for 12 rebounds to go with his 19 points, and was so engaged that he committed a lane violation trying to get to Evans' missed free throw with 17.8 seconds left in the third period, when the Pacers led by 22 points. He followed that by chasing down the rebound of Andre Drummond's desperate 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer and flinging it the length of the court, just in case a miracle awaited.
Photo Credit: Jessica Hoffman
They also compiled 33 assists on their 53 field goals, which enabled them to shoot 60 percent from the field despite hitting just 5-of-19 3-point shots.
"You can say what you want to say," Young said after hearing of the Pistons' reaction to the outcome. "I think we did a really good job of just playing. Putting out a great defense, putting out a great product on the offensive end.
"Some nights you're going to have nights like that, but we jumped on them early. From the get-go we wanted to impose our will on the game. We played with a lot of energy, a lot of focus. I think we were in tune with the game a little bit more than they were tonight."
Turner said some of the motivation came from the fact the Pacers lost three of four games to Detroit last season, and had to come from 22 points down to get the one they won. "I think we took this one personal tonight," he said.
The Pacers, though, are making a habit of playing motivated. They've won 11 of their previous 13 games and their 24-12 record has them 1 1/2 games back of the Eastern Conference lead. Their togetherness, both on the court and on the bench, is there for all to see, most obviously in the way they move the ball and help one another on defense.
"I thought they played a really good 48 minutes on both ends of the floor, with a lot of energy," coach Nate McMillan said. "Don't worry about who scores. Play the game and take the shot when you have it."
The Pacers' unity is impressive on its surface, but even more so when you consider seven key players are in contract years and could have heightened selfish interests. Turner brought up that point to reporters after the game, but it hasn't been brought up among the players since coach Nate McMillan addressed it at the start of training camp. A potential obstacle to teamwork hasn't been the slightest factor.
"We have so many guys in a contract year," Turner said. "(But) everybody's just playing for the team. That's very rare. That's very special, the fact everybody can come in here and play for one goal and play for each other."
What the players bring up are topics such as Collison's dunk. They didn't let that one go Friday. And to be honest, Collison had mixed feelings about it. He had just scored 19 points while hitting all seven of his field goal attempts and passed out seven assists with just one turnover, but nobody was talking about that.
"It's never good when people are excited about a dunk," he said, smiling.
"It is what it is. I'm just fortunate to still play at the level I'm playing at, at this age. And the teammates I have, too. It's a good thing."
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Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.
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