Pistons @ Pacers preview
Posted by pistonsnationThe Pistons (30-40, 18-21 road) will be at Indiana’s Conseco Fieldhouse to take on the Pacers (34-45) tonight at 7 pm est. The Game can be viewed locally on Fox Sports Detroit.
Pacers’ Snapshot
Home record: 23-15
Last game: 4/10 (Fri) L 118-122 @ Hawks
Last 10: 6-4
Streak: Lost 1
Injuries: Mike Dunleavy (Knee – Out for the Season), Marquis Daniels (Wrist – Out Indefinitely)
Vs. Pistons: Oct. 29th – Pacers (94) @ PISTONS (100) / Dec. 12th – Pacers (110) @ PISTONS (114) / Jan. 14th – Pistons (106) @ PACERS (110) OT
Ok, we’re in. Now it’s time to improve playoff seeding. To recap the Pistons at 39-40 are tied with the Bulls for the 7th seed. That puts both team 1 games behind the 76ers for the 6th seed. The Pistons are actually still mathematically eligible for the 5th seed, but that would be quite a stretch.
To let the good times continue to roll they have to go down to the Hoosier State and handle they bitness. That means staying focused against another squad that will be absent from the postseason.
Like the Nets the Pacers have a strong MIP candidate in Danny Granger. Granger has averaged 25.5 ppg which is good enough for 6th in the Association. He’s been particularly Bonkers D. Bobcat against our guys averaging 33 ppg which includes his career high of 42 in a Palace loss back in December.
Troy Murphy is also having a career year for the Pacers. From Pacers.com:
Currently second in the league in rebounding (11.8) and fourth in 3-point percentage (.450), he is tracking to become the first player in NBA history to finish in the top five in both categories. The only player to rank in the top 10 was Larry Bird.
As if that wasn’t enough …
Murphy already has a career-high with 46 double-doubles (one shy of tying Clark Kellogg’s franchise record set in 1982-83). His rebounding average and 3-point percentages are career bests.
Using the Pacers last six games as a diagnostic for what we’ll see tonight expect scoring. Over the last six games the Pacers are averaging just under 120 ppg, while giving up 110.
Look for this to be a more competitive game than the Pistons’ previous two. The Pacers are tough at home having the best home winning percentage of any Eastern Conference non-playoff eligible team. And, even though they’re not a great defensive team they do a good job of rebounding the ball (2nd in NBA).
ALSO OF NOTE: The Pacers 3 year playoff drought is the longest since missing the postseason 5 straight seasons in the 1980’s … Indiana is 2-19 when opponents shoot 50% or better … Piston Powered preview … the Pistons are a 2.5 point favorite tonight … Indy Corn Rows preview … SI’s Ian Thompson picks NBA award winners … Curry looking to get McDyess some rest down the stretch … HAPPY EASTER! …
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Game preview, Pacers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
