Game Rewind: Pacers 101, Pistons 108

Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin came through in the clutch as the Pistons closed Friday's game with seven straight points, handing the Pacers a 108-101 loss in Detroit.

The win was the third for Detroit (9-14) in four games this season against Indiana (14-8). Barely a quarter of the way through the regular season, the two Central Division rivals are done with their season series.

After a back-and-forth fourth quarter on Friday, the two teams were tied at 101 with less than a minute to play.

Out of a timeout, Rose drove into the paint, then bounced a pass back to Griffin at the top of the key. Griffin drained the triple to give the Pistons a 104-101 lead with 41.4 seconds remaining.

After another timeout, the Pacers ran a give-and-go with Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis off the inbounds, but Brogdon lost the ball out of bounds while trying to drive past Andre Drummond. On the other end, Rose drilled a one-handed runner to make it a five-point game with 18.4 seconds to play.

After T.J. Warren missed a three and Sabonis missed the putback, the Pistons got a runout, allowing Langston Galloway to seal the game with an uncontested layup.

"We didn't execute," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said after the loss. "We didn't get stops when we needed to. When we did force a miss, they got the offensive rebound, and then offensively, we turned the ball over."

Griffin scored 25 points and Drummond added 25 points and 22 rebounds as Detroit snapped Indiana's two-game road winning streak.

Warren led all scorers with 26 points in the loss on 11-of-18 shooting.

The Pistons got off to a fast start on Friday night. Griffin scored five points as Detroit opened the game with seven unanswered points. Sharpshooter Luke Kennard then took over, scoring 11 points — hitting two 3-pointers and making three free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt — to help the hosts take a 32-19 lead after the first quarter.

The Blue & Gold fought back, opening the second quarter with a 17-6 run, climbing within two points of the lead on Sabonis' layup with 6:54 left in the first half.

But Griffin scored six more points as Detroit answered with another 8-0 run to retake control. The Pistons extended their advantage to as many as 13 points and took an 11-point lead into the break.

The Pacers flipped the script after halftime, opening the third quarter with a 12-4 run, featuring 3-pointers by Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb and capped by a fastbreak dunk from Warren.

Indiana eventually moved in front for the first time after Warren scored six straight points to give the visitors a 68-66 advantage with 4:45 remaining in the frame. Detroit briefly tied the game on Rose's layup 13 seconds later, but Brogdon's jumper at the 3:47 put the Pacers back in front.

Defensively, the Pacers locked down in the third quarter, as they held the Pistons to just 16 points in the frame and took a 75-71 lead into the fourth.

The Pistons clawed back in the final frame, taking an 86-84 lead on Christian Wood's 3-pointer with 7:28 remaining. Indiana moved back in front on Myles Turner's three-point play 15 seconds later, the start of a 7-0 Pacers run. Detroit then responded with seven unanswered points of their own, retaking the lead on Andre Drummond's layup with 4:35 to play.

The two teams passed the lead back in forth multiple times over the next couple minutes and entered the final two minutes tied at 97.

Bruce Brown's jumper with 1:55 left in the contest gave the hosts a two-point lead. Brogdon and Sabonis each hit one of two free throws on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 99. Rose and Warren then traded jumpers as the clock dipped under one minute with the score tied at 101.

Brogdon finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and five assists for Indiana. Sabonis recorded another double-double, tallying 18 points, 13 boards, and five assists. Jeremy Lamb (12 points, five rebounds, and four assists) and Doug McDermott (10 points and four boards) also finished in double figures.

Rose had 14 points, six rebounds, and five assists off the bench for Detroit. Kennard finished with 15 points and four assists.

Indiana closes out a five-game road trip on Saturday night, when they visit the New York Knicks on the second night of a back-to-back. The Knicks added some intrigue to that matchup on Friday when they fired second-year head coach David Fizdale.

Sabonis' double-double was his seventh straight and his 15th in his last 16 games. He has a team-high 17 double-doubles this season.

Warren topped 20 points for the fifth time in the last seven contests. Over that span, he is averaging 22.6 points while shooting 60.2 percent from the field and 59.3 percent from 3-point range.

The Pacers committed just 12 turnovers while forcing Detroit into 18 giveaways.

Griffin's 25 points were one shy of his season high, set on Nov. 27 at Charlotte.

Drummond recorded his fifth 20-20 double-double of the season and his second against the Pacers. The NBA's leading rebounder had 32 points and 23 boards in Detroit's Opening Night victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

"I thought they were the aggressors all night long. It started at the beginning of the game. It just seemed like they wanted it a little bit more than we did. We gave up a 37-point fourth quarter. We're supposed to get stronger and figure out how to stop teams and how to attack teams and we didn't do that. I don't think we did that on either end of the floor." -McMillan

"We had a good locker room speech at half, got together, got regrouped, and came out and played extremely well. Then, near that fourth quarter, I think we gave up 39 points or something. That's not really like us." -McDermott

"He got some 50/50 balls that we should have got. But, credit to him, he's a great player and plays with a lot of energy. You got to tip your cap to him tonight as they played really well." -McDermott on the Pacers' struggles keeping Drummond off the glass

"It's big. I just like the way we kind of stuck together, we got up early and then they kind of made a run for us in the first and the third. We stayed together and it was great, guys had good communication on the bench and we got it done." -Griffin on the win

"We knew it was going to be a playoff-style game. I thought the last few minutes down the stretch was indicative of how the game should have been played; boxing out, hitting people if you get a hard foul, not a dirty foul – but it was a body-to-body game down the stretch." -Pistons head coach Dwane Casey

Detroit outrebounded Indiana 51-33, including a 14-5 advantage on the offensive glass. It was the most an opponent has outrebounded the Pacers by all season. That rebounding advantage also helped the Pistons outscore the Pacers 25-2 in second chance points.

The Pacers travel to New York to take on the Knicks on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 PM ET.

After a five-game road trip, the Pacers will return home to host Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday, Dec. 9 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets »

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