Granger’s 29 lift Pacers past Pistons
March 20, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—A couple of bleary-eyed days couldn’t knock Danny Granger(notes)off his game.
The Indiana forward returned from a right cheek injury Friday night, makingthree critical free throws late and finishing with 29 points to help the Pacersget beat the Detroit Pistons 106-102.
On Wednesday, the Pacers said Granger was out indefinitely. Two days later,he was back on the court and in the lead role. Granger connected on 11 of 16shots, both of his 3-point attempts and five of six free throws. He also had sixassists and three steals and got lots of help from his friends.
Troy Murphy(notes) made four 3s and had 20 points. Roy Hibbert(notes) and Brandon Rush(notes)each scored 15 points and Mike Dunleavy had 10. Indiana has now won two of itslast three.
Detroit was led by Rodney Stuckey(notes), who played 27 minutes and finished with25 points in his first game since collapsing on the bench during a game twoweeks ago.
Stuckey’s inspirational performance nearly led Detroit back from a 24-pointssecond-half deficit, but the Pistons ran out of steam in the final 2 minutes.
The Pacers led by double digits almost the entire game and extended a 62-41halftime lead to 24 when Granger completed a three-point play on Indiana’s firstpossession of the second half. They still led 87-70 after three quarters and92-75 with 9:49 left in the game.
Detroit, behind Stuckey, found a way to come all the way back.
The Pistons scored five straight points to get to 12. Then, after Grangerhit a 10-foot jumper, the Pistons scored 15 straight points and took their onlylead of the night, 95-94, when DaJuan Summers(notes) hit a 21-footer with 2:51 to go.
Suddenly, the Pacers were in trouble and the sparse crowd at ConsecoFieldhouse was quiet.
But Earl Watson(notes) grabbed a rebound, raced coast-to-coast for a layup to giveIndiana the lead with 2:03 left. Granger followed that by making three freethrows and Murphy made two more to give Indiana a 101-95 cushion.
Detroit never got closer than that until the game’s final basket.
NOTES: The Pistons have lost four straight and 11 of 13. … Ben Wallace(notes)played 24 minutes after missing eight games with a right patella tendon injury.… Indiana shot 60 percent from the field and was 9 of 15 on 3-pointers in thefirst half. … The Pacers are 3-0 this season against Detroit. … The Pacershave made 10 or more 3s in a game 19 times this season.