Game Rewind: Pacers 107, Pistons 100

In their first Hickory Night of the 2017-18 season, the Pacers had a comeback fit for the movies, storming back from 22 points down in the second half to defeat the Pistons 107-100 in front of a roaring crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

In a game in which they had been down by 22 and seemed on their way to a home loss, a very different scene emerged in the closing moments as Domantas Sabonis sent home a thundering one-handed dunk and was met by his teammates at halfcourt in celebration as the Pacers (8-8) led by seven en route to the victory.

"We're learning about this team," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said after the game. "I'm learning more about them and we were in the situation where we were just being outplayed in that first half, and you know I've said that this group has worked hard really every day. They've had a couple of bad days, we've lost some games where we didn't execute down the stretch, but we didn't defend, but the effort has always been there. But tonight you saw a team that didn't give up, they didn't give into the poor first half. The second half they came out and battled and flipped the switch on Detroit."

Despite falling victim to what could have been a game-ending 20-2 run from Detroit (10-5) in the third quarter, the Pacers responded with vigor as Sabonis entered the game and helped pilot the Pacers on a 15-3 run of their own to close the frame, bringing the deficit to just 10 points entering the fourth quarter.

That run turned out to just be the start of what would become a massive 32-6 Pacers explosion that brought Indiana within just one point of tying the game, bringing the home crowd during Hickory Night to a fever pitch.

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While the Pistons managed to push back up to a 92-85 lead, the Hickory Pacers roared back, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers from Cory Joseph and Lance Stephenson to bring it to a 92-91 Pistons lead with 5:33 remaining.

Moments later, Sabonis gave Indiana its first lead of the second half by connecting on a pair of free throws to make it 93-92. Sabonis' timely hoops were followed up by an acrobatic putback by Lance Stephenson, who raised his arms to the crowd imploring the home crowd to get loud down the stretch.

The crowd did just that a minute later when Darren Collison drilled a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Pacers a one-point edge. On Indiana's following possession, it was Stephenson again, nailing a 3-pointer as the shot clock ran down to send The Fieldhouse into a state of bedlam as the Pacers led by four.

"I had a tough first half and I told myself if Coach called my name again, when I get in there I'm going to change the atmosphere and I did it," said Stephenson at his locker. "I just wanted to stay confident and never let down."

From the moment the game was tied at 95, Indiana outscored the Pistons 12-5 for the remainder of the contest. All told, the Pacers outscored the Pistons 36-19 in the fourth quarter as Victor Oladipo led the team with 21 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the winning effort.

Things were working early for Indiana as the Pacers took a 13-9 lead to open the night, but the game then began to tip in favor of the visiting Pistons, who used a barrage of 3-pointers to establish a 32-23 Detroit advantage entering the second quarter.

Although Detroit opened up the scoring in the second frame, the Pacers responded with a bruising 12-2 run, highlighted by a 4-point play from Collison. Despite digging into the deficit, Detroit's bench pushed back, reeling off an impressive 13-0 run to go up by 15 points. By the time the first half came to an end the, Pacers trailed the Pistons 58-47.

Indiana held Detroit to just 40.4 percent shooting in the half, but the Pistons managed to connect on eight of their 19 3-point attempts, creating an 11-point halftime lead.

When the second half began, the Hickory Pacers looked like an energized bunch, scoring the third quarter's first seven points to slice the Pistons' lead to just four points. But from there, the Pistons put their mark on the game, erupting on an 20-2 run to go up 78-56.

With the Pistons leading by 22 and the Pacers headed for a dispiriting loss at home, Indiana put forth its best comeback in recent history, using an energizing and passionate performance by Stephenson and company to storm past the Pistons and deliver one of their most impressive victories of the season.

"We're 16 games in and I feel like we've been in every type of game imaginable," said Oladipo. "I think that's good for us. We've been in that situation before when we're down and worked ourselves back into it. Some nights we came up short; but tonight was a different result. We showed some resilience. This is a very resilient team. We have very resilient people here and we have to build on it."

The Pacers outscored the Pistons 60-42 in the second half.

Indiana got 27 points on the fastbreak compared to 20 from the Pistons.

The Pacers connected on 15-of-28 3-point shots (53.6 percent). Oladipo led the team with five made threes.

Victor Oladipo set a career high with 15 rebounds.

"I think all of us just stuck together, and that was the main focus at halftime, when we watched film and talked about what we have to do, just stick together. In the first half we didn't shoot the ball really well, so we knew we were going to just have to pick it up." -Domantas Sabonis

"It definitely means something. It gives us confidence and makes us feel like what we're doing is working. We just gotta go hard every day, watch film and see what we're doing good and continue to do it." -Lance Stephenson

"Tonight you saw a team that didn't give up, they didn't give into the poor first half. The second half they came out and battled and flipped the switch on Detroit. Our pressure was much better defensively, offensively we handled their pressure and got them back on their heels. We learned tonight that this group has got a lot of fight in them, it's a 48-minute game, they came out, they wanted it and knew they could play better and they did." -Pacers head coach Nate McMillan

"Well I think it was pretty obvious, we couldn't score and then every time we missed they got out and hit three's in transition. They shot 70 percent from three in the second half, and a lot of them were in transition. They had 18 fast break points, so I think it was a combination of stagnant offense, not getting good movement and good shots, and then at the other end, our transition defense was horrendous." -Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy

Since it started to be tracked in 2002, the Pacers had never mounted a comeback of 22 points or more in the second half (According to STATS LLC).

The Pacers travel to Miami to begin a two-game road trip before returning home to face the Toronto Raptors on Friday, November 24th at 8:00 PM.

The Pacers honored the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and City of New Castle during Friday's Hickory Night matchup with the Detroit Pistons. Learn more at Pacers.com/Hickory »