Drummond, Griffin power Pacers past Pistons

[February 26, 2019]    Andre Drummond powered his way to 26 points and 16 rebounds, Blake Griffin recorded a triple-double, and the Detroit Pistons collected a 113-109 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Monday.

Detroit has won seven of its last eight, including all three outings since the All-Star break.

Griffin racked up 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Luke Kennard had 19 points off the bench while Wayne Ellington and Reggie Jackson added 14 points apiece.

Bojan Bogdanovic's 25 points led Indiana, which had won eight of its previous nine. Reserve Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and seven rebounds, but he hobbled off with an ankle injury with a minute remaining. Darren Collison supplied 21 points and five assists.

The Pistons got off to a hot start, but the Pacers closed to within four at 55-51 by halftime.

Detroit led by 16 points after the first quarter, but Indiana outscored the Pistons 31-19 in the second quarter. Sabonis spearheaded the comeback, scoring 16 first-half points. Kennard led the Pistons with 14 points, including four of their 10 3-point makes in the half.

The Pacers cut the Pistons' lead to one, 72-71, midway through the third on a Collison 3-pointer. Collison then tied the game with 3:16 remaining in the quarter on a layup.

The Pistons, however, scored the next nine points. Drummond had six of them and Ish Smith contributed three assists in the spurt. Detroit carried an 84-77 lead into the fourth.

Bogdanovic scored in the lane 2 1/2 minutes into the quarter to make it a three-point game but Detroit responded with 10 unanswered points. Griffin had a 3-pointer and an assist, and Drummond converted a lob to finish it off.

Kennard tossed in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Pistons a 105-91 lead with less than four minutes left.

Collison hit a trey with less than a minute to go to make it 109-102 but the Pacers couldn't get closer than four from there.

Indiana crushed Detroit in their first meeting this season 125-88 on Dec. 28. The teams will play a home-and-home set in early April.

--Field Level Media

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