Game Rewind: Pacers 121, Pistons 133

Sunday, April 12 at 6:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Game Recap

In their final game of the 2025-26 season, the Pacers (19-63) fell to the Detroit Pistons (60-22) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 133-121.

Quenton Jackson scored 21 points, dished out eight assists, and collected three steals in the season finale to lead the Blue & Gold. Obi Toppin also tallied 21 points in just 18 minutes off the bench, matching his career high for 3-pointers made by going 7-for-11 from beyond the arc.

Paul Reed led Detroit with 26 points and six rebounds on perfect 11-for-11 shooting, while also going 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Tobias Harris added 24 points in 22 minutes on 9-of-12 shooting (4-for-4 from 3-point range).

The Pacers had just nine active players for the season finale on Sunday. Tyrese Haliburton, Johnny Furphy, Ivica Zubac, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, T.J. McConnell, Ben Sheppard, and Jarace Walker all missed the game due to injury.

While the Pistons have had the top seed in the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs locked up for several games, they only rested All-Star center Jalen Duren, electing to play all their other key players into the second half on Sunday.

The Pistons jumped out to an early lead on Sunday. Reed scored 14 of Detroit's first 24 points and Harris added the other 10. Reed started the night 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line, while Harris went 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

Detroit led by as many as 12 in the early going. Toppin provided a nice spark after checking in off the bench midway through the first quarter, knocking down three of four 3-point attempts.

But the Pistons reeled off a 9-0 run later in the frame to extend the margin to 17 and took a 41-27 lead into the second quarter.

The ensuing frame was marked by a series of runs. Micah Potter scored eight points and knocked down a pair of threes to trigger an 11-2 Indiana run that trimmed the deficit to 52-47. But the Pistons quickly countered once again, this time with All-Star guard Cade Cunningham scoring seven points during a 13-0 spurt.

Toppin and Potter continued their 3-point barrage, as Toppin buried three more triples and Potter added another during a 14-6 run by the Blue & Gold to get back within eight. But Detroit responded by closing the half with a 12-2 run to take an 81-63 lead into the break.

The Pistons' 81 points in the first half were the most the Pacers allowed in the first half all season.

The Pistons stretched the lead as high as 27 points in the third quarter and all but sealed the outcome.

Toppin provided some excitement for the home fans in the final minute of the frame, however. First, he tied his career-best mark by knocking down his seventh 3-pointer of the game with 29.9 seconds left. Then, after Jalen Slawson stole the ball in the closing seconds of the quarter, Toppin raced ahead and threw down his famous Eastbay between-the-legs dunk, though he was just a fraction of a second too late after the buzzer for it to count.

Detroit took a 108-89 lead into the fourth quarter. The Pacers managed to get back within single digits in the closing minutes, as back-to-back threes from Ethan Thompson and Jay Huff cut Detroit's lead to 126-120 with 2:21 to go. But that would be the closest they would get.

Kobe Brown finished with 20 points and seven rebounds while going 4-for-7 from 3-point range for Indiana. Thompson tallied 18 points and six assists, while Potter recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Jay Huff was the sixth and final Pacer in double figures, finishing with 13 points and five blocks.

Isaiah Stewart had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and five rebounds off the bench for Detroit. Fellow reserve Kevin Huerter added 15 points and three steals. Cunningham finished with just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting, but did tally eight rebounds and 14 assists in 22 minutes of action.

Next up for the Pacers is the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10 in Chicago. The Pacers will only keep their pick if it lands in the top four, otherwise it will go to the Clippers as a condition of the Feb. 5 trade for Zubac. Indiana has a 52.1 percent chance of landing a top-four pick. The Pacers have not drafted in the top four since taking Rik Smits second overall in 1988 and have never had the first overall pick.

Inside the Numbers

Toppin's seven 3-pointers matched his career high, which he set previously on March 17, 2025 at Minnesota.

Brown's 20 points were a new career high. It was his first 20-point game in his 145th career game.

Potter recorded a double-double in each of the final three games this season and four of his final five.

Thompson scored 15 points or more in each of the last four games of the season.

The Pistons outscored Indiana 62-36 in points in the paint.

You Can Quote Me On That

“It was a very difficult game, but our guys fought really hard and got it to six at the end. The crowd stayed and was into it. Couldn’t ask for much more." -Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on Sunday's game

“That was really cool. I owe it all to my teammates, especially Q [Quenton Jackson]. I feel like Q hit me for the majority of my points. I owe it all to my teammates. They hit me when I was open. It went my way tonight." -Brown on his career-high night

“Obi’s situation is one of the real positives…When you regain rhythm, you refresh your confidence and your feel and all those kinds of things. Tonight was a nice way to top it off with him shooting the ball the way he did, playing the way he did.” -Carlisle on Toppin's strong close to the season

“It’s a humbling year…After last year, just the rash of things that happened was really humbling enough and then we started 1-13. Our guys played their butts off all year. Was just proud of the way the guys stuck with it. We learned a lot about our roster." -Carlisle on his takeaways from the season

Stat of the Night

The Pacers set a season high with 23 3-pointers and also took a season-high 54 attempts. They shot 42.6 percent from beyond the arc and tied for the second-most 3-pointers made in a game in franchise history.

Noteworthy

• With Sunday's win, the Pistons swept the season series with Indiana for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
• Slawson was assessed a flagrant-2 for a foul on Stewart and ejected with 9:33 remaining in the fourth quarter.
• Pacers assistant coach Jim Boylen and Pistons assistant Vitaly Potapenko were both given a technical foul in the aftermath of Slawson's flagrant foul.

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