After what felt like a super long road trip out West, the Indiana Pacers finally returned to Banker's Life Fieldhouse to pound the shorthanded (lost Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye in a trade) Detroit Pistons 98-79, snapping a 3-game losing streak to begin a long home-stretch with just a single road game until Feb. 23.
Not much to say except it was good to see the Pacers clicking again on the defensive end after giving up way too many points on their recent road trip. Although they got some bad calls to lose those last two games against the Jazz and Nuggets, at least it kind of got the team's dismal offense going a little bit. Put that together with a solid defensive effort like tonight and they will be hard to beat on most nights at home.
Roy Hibbert led the way with 18 points (7-14 shooting) and 11 rebounds. Remember when that kind of stat line was expected of Hibbert rather than it being one of his best performances of the season? Sigh…
Paul George had an off game 10 points and 6 turnovers, but the rest of the team picked up the slack. David West had 14, George Hill had 15 and Lance Stephenson had 12. Tyler Hansbrough chipped in with 14 off the bench.
A true measuring stick game coming up against the Miami Heat at home on Friday. Last time the Pacers caught the Heat when they were going through a slide. They're now confident and are going to be gunning for revenge, so the Pacers better be ready.
Danny Granger is apparently due to return during this long home stretch, so start looking out for a surprise.
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