(Sports Network) - The Indiana Pacers gutted out a hard-fought victory over
the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday and will try to keep the momentum when they
visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night.
If Indiana's win over the Sixers was hard-fought, the term to describe
Detroit's loss on Friday might be "gut-wrenching."
The Pistons fell 107-105 in double-overtime Friday night in Brooklyn against
the Nets. Joe Johnson nailed a jumper from just inside the 3-point line as
time expired in the second extra session to give the Nets the victory and the
Pistons a crushing defeat.
"We showed great resolve, great fight and we competed extremely hard," Pistons
coach Lawrence Frank said. "There's no one happy with the consolation prize.
Disappointed that we came up short, because in both regulation and both
overtimes, we got the stop - we just couldn't finish the play."
The Pistons were 17 down, but took a six-point lead with 1:32 to go in
regulation. There were breakdowns, missed free-throws and all-around
sloppiness.
Brandon Knight had 22 points in just over 47 minutes to pace the Pistons.
Rodney Stuckey chipped in 19 and Greg Monroe, who missed two crucial foul
shots late in the second overtime, notched 17 points.
The loss was the third in a row for a Pistons team, who is 2-12 on the road,
but 5-6 in The Palace.
The Pacers picked up their second consecutive victory on Friday with a home
win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers were without their best player,
guard Jrue Holiday, but the Pacers were led by two awesome performances.
George Hill recorded his first career triple-double with 15 points, 10 assists
and 10 rebounds and Paul George scored 28 points, 14 of which came in the
third quarter.
"Really good win by our club. A couple guys had exceptional nights on the
offense end," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel. "That's what we want to do on the
defense end, make them make tough shots. (We) held them to 26 points in the
paint and it held up."
George has played extremely well over the last six games. He is averaging 25.0
ppg and is opening eyes.
"Paul has been playing this way for a couple weeks now and it's really
exciting to see," said Vogel. "Combined with what he does on the defensive
end, he's becoming a special player."
Roy Hibbert enjoyed his best game of the season against the Sixers with 19
points and 13 rebounds.
The Pacers have won three of their last four against their fellow Central
Division colleagues, but the Pistons have taken three straight at home in this
series.
The Sports Network