INDIANAPOLIS — A hot first half allowed the Detroit Pistons to leave Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a win and avoid tying history.
The Pistons defeated the Indiana Pacers, 122-115, to snap an 11-game winning streak and improve to 17-64 overall. They will now finish with ony the second-worst record in franchise history, avoiding the franchise-worst mark of 16-66, set by the 1979-80 iteration of the team. Detroit closes the season on the road at 1 p.m. Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.
Jaden Ivey (29 points, nine assists) and Killian Hayes (career-high 28 points, six assists, four steals) were electric for the Pistons, helping them build a 21-point lead in the first half and hitting a series of clutch shots in the fourth quarter to help the Pistons close out after the Pacers climbed back to within four points. Detroit shot 35.7% in the second half after knocking down 60.4% of their attempts in the first.
BENCH BOSS: Pistons are eying a turnaround next season. Will Dwane Casey be part of it?
SHAWN WINDSOR: Pistons’ present is bleak, but Jaden Ivey is a big reason why the future is bright
The Pistons punished Indiana in transition, scoring 19 of their 21 fastbreak points in the first half and getting 34 points off 19 Pacers turnovers. The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner, though Detroit entered the game shorthanded as well, with just seven rotation players available.
Cory Joseph added 18 points and five assists for the Pistons. Buddy Hield led the Pacers with 22 points.
Hayes, Ivey help Pistons take control, close out
When your starting backcourt combines for 36 points and 10 assists in the first half, it usually leads to good things.
Hayes and Ivey found their groove early for Detroit, helping turn an 11-point deficit in the first quarter to a 21-point lead with 1:13 to play before halftime. By the midway point, Ivey had 19 points and five assists and Hayes had 17 points, five assists and three steals.
It was one of Hayes’ best scoring nights of the season. He knocked down a corner 3-pointer to extend a 14-4 first-quarter Detroit run that slashed the deficit to one, 21-20, after they trailed 17-6. He added a layup during Detroit’s next possession to tie the game at 22. His second 3-pointer gave Detroit the lead, 29-27. The Pistons closed the first quarter with a 29-10 run, and Hayes was instrumental in it, scoring 10 points and dishing out three assists.
Ivey got going in the second quarter, opening it with a long 2-pointer, a pull-up 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to push Detroit’s run to 16-0. A windmill dunk in transition pushed the lead to 18, 64-46, with 2:59 left before halftime. Another Ivey pull-up 3 pushed the lead to 21 — their biggest of the night — at the 1:13 mark.
Detroit went cold in the second half, but Hayes and Ivey hit a series of clutch buckets down the stretch to help the Pistons hang on.
Ivey hit a clutch jumper with 4:37 to go, catching the ball between his legs in the corner and gathering himself to bank in a jumper from midrange as the shot clock expired to give Detroit a 12-point lead. And Hayes added a floater not long after to tie his career-high with 26 points.
Joseph was also clutch for the Pistons, hitting his first 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in the third quarter and adding three more in the fourth.
Wiseman exits game after elbow to face, returns
The Pistons entered the game with just nine healthy players, including their two players on two-way contracts. Their lengthy injury report grew longer less than two minutes into Friday’s contest.
For the third straight game, Detroit opened the game with a two-big lineup, starting Jalen Duren and James Wiseman. But Wiseman exited the game after just 105 seconds of action after taking an elbow to the face from Duren, who leapt for a rebound after Wiseman missed a jump hook.
His elbow landed squarely between Wiseman’s eyes; the center was later ruled questionable to return with a facial laceration. Cory Joseph replaced him in the lineup in the second half, but Wiseman returned with 8:35 remaining in the third and appeared to be fine. He split a trip at the line before making his first score from the floor midway through the third, extending the Pistons’ lead to 10 and helping them close out a rare victory.