Josh Smith Dominates Pacers Front Court With 30 Points & 7 Rebounds In 101-96 Victory.
Although tied with the Boston Celtics for 5th place in a very poor Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons have been one of the more underachieving teams in the league. During the off-season, Detroit had key free agent signings of Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith; but its taken the team a little longer than expected to develop chemistry.
Tonight however, the they has something to smile about after giving their central division rival, Indiana Pacers their first home loss the season. The story of the game was Josh Smith scoring 30 points for the 2nd straight night (suffered a loss at Portland last night) dominating both Paul George and David West when they switched to the smaller lineup.
Detroit bigs Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe controlled the boards with help from Josh Harrellson as they out-rebounded the Pacers 55-40. Paul George scored 17 points, going 4-14 from the floor with 8 coming from the line; and Roy Hibbert was contained shooting 2-12 on the court with only 6 points. The Pacers have a road game Wednesday night at American Airlines Arena against the Miami Heat, as the boys from South Beach will be looking to seek revenge on their defeat from last week. Suffering a home loss is part of the season, but heading into Miami after a one is something Indiana will not be looking forward to.