The defending NBA Cup runner-up gets an opportunity to play spoiler when the Indiana Pacers host the Detroit Pistons in tournament play Friday night.
The Pacers, while technically still alive for the Eastern wild-card spot in the quarterfinals, shot themselves to the bottom of the East Group B standings with losses to the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks earlier this month.
Indiana’s only chances of advancing would require wins not only against the Pistons but also Tuesday at Toronto, both by large margins to improve their point differential, and then pray for a massive tie for the Eastern wild-card spot among second-place teams with 2-2 records.
Having already beaten the Heat and Raptors, the Pistons have put themselves in a position to advance even should they lose to the Pacers. They complete Cup round-robin play Tuesday at home against the Bucks, who stand atop the group with a 3-0 record.
A win over the Bucks, regardless of Friday’s result, would give Detroit the Group B title by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker over Milwaukee.
The advantage gained by beating Indiana is it would allow the Pistons to lose to the Bucks and still possibly earn the East’s wild-card spot at 3-1 via a points-differential tiebreaker. Detroit stands plus-4 in that category.
The Pacers come into the matchup in the better form of the two. They have beaten the Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers to open a four-game homestand.
Tyrese Haliburton unveiled his true identity and came on strong late in Wednesday’s 121-114 win over the Trail Blazers, finishing with 28 points.
The star guard started the game wearing a plastic mask over his face to protect a bruised nose suffered in the previous outing against New Orleans. It lasted only until he missed three of his first five shots as Portland took an early lead.
“It was just getting it to sit right and strapped on right,” he said of the issue. “It was bothering me a little bit. But we persevered …
“It’s not coming back. Hopefully in a couple more days it stops hurting so much. I hope I never see that again.”
Haliburton was held to 15 points on Opening Night when the Pacers won 115-109 at Detroit in the clubs’ only previous meeting this season. Myles Turner (20 points) and Pascal Siakam (19) led the way.
The Pistons have lost four of their last five, including three in a row on the road. They fell hard, 131-111, at Memphis on Wednesday.
Improved defense was the key to Detroit’s earlier Cup wins over the Heat and Raptors. The Pistons held Miami to 111 points in regulation of an overtime win, then kept Toronto to just 95 in a four-point win.
“They’ve embraced the mindset,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We keep talking to them and they’ve bought into the idea of playing in the mud. We drag you in the mud and let’s see how much fun you have there. That’s our mindset. We feel like we can thrive in that position.”
The Pistons rank 11th in the NBA in points allowed at 112.0 per game.
–Field Level Media