A pair of Central Division opponents coming off poor defensive efforts on Friday night will match up on Saturday.
The Indiana Pacers will be seeking their first victory in their third consecutive home game after falling to the San Antonio Spurs 137-134. The Detroit Pistons won their home opener before getting thumped on the road by the New York Knicks 130-106.
Carlisle’s club allowed the Spurs to shoot 54.3 percent overall and 54.8 percent, 17 of 31, on 3-point attempts. The Spurs also shot twice as many free throws as the Pacers, 44-22.
Pacers center Myles Turner will miss his third straight game after sustaining a left ankle sprain. Indiana has sorely missed its interior defensive anchor and Carlisle might switch up his rotation to compensate.
Indiana trailed by 15 at halftime on Friday and couldn’t quite make up the deficit despite scoring 79 second-half points, including 49 in the final quarter. Guard Tyrese Haliburton finished with 27 points and 12 assists and the Pacers also got major contributions from rookies Bennedict Mathurin (26 points) and Andrew Nembhard (14 points).
The Pistons gave up 72 first-half points to New York and trailed by 20 at the break after missing 11 of 15 3-point attempts and 11 of 15 free-throw tries. They were unable to mount a serious second-half rally.
Saddiq Bey led the Pistons’ offense with 26 points and rookie Jaden Ivey supplied 17 points and nine assists in his second career game. The bench didn’t hold up its end of the bargain, shooting 8-for-29 from the field.
Bojan Bogdanovic has certainly boosted Detroit’s starting lineup. Acquired from the Utah Jazz in a trade heading into training camp, Bogdanovic is averaging 21 points and shooting 60 percent from the field through his first two games with the Pistons.
However, the six other Detroit players who saw the most action Friday are in their first, second or third years in the league.
The Pistons won the series last season 3-1.
