The Indiana Pacers defeat the Detroit Pistons and open the season 1-0

DETROIT – The Indiana Pacers kicked off the 2024-25 season on Wednesday night against the Pistons in Detroit. It wasn’t pretty and the Pacers struggled for much of the first 30 minutes of the game. However, they managed to find enough periods of success to give themselves a chance late in the game and slammed the door behind them with a strong finish.

“A very physical, emotional and typical match on the first night. Very difficult,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We were nine down at half-time. They had momentum and then we managed to put a 19-point defensive quarter on them. At one point we scored six or seven stops in a row and that really decided our game. change of momentum.”

The Pacers defense came alive in the final quarter. They played more physical on the glass and were more effective overall, forcing the Pistons to respond to the way they played. Detroit was missing some good performances, but Indiana was able to punish them in a way they weren’t early in the game.

The hosts scored only 19 points in the fourth quarter, and young defender Bennedict Mathurin took the initiative in the offensive and led his team to victory. Mathurin scored 14 of his 19 points in the final quarter.

Myles Turner shined early in the second half, while Pascal Siakam quietly dominated throughout the evening. Despite a slow start and more sloppy play on offense, the Pacers did enough to win. They are 1-0 and will face the New York Knicks on Friday.

You can find out more about the game in the video below.

“Good teams find a way to win. The rest of the things don’t matter. I think we just had to find a way to win and we did,” Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said after the game. .