Any opening night optimism for the Pacers was quickly wiped away midway through the fourth quarter when they endured their first dose of adversity in the form of a decisive 16-2 run by the Pistons.
The suddend burst by the visitors - part of a 36-point closing quarter for Detroit - was met with a jumbled mess of poor execution by the Pacers. Luke Kennard had 16 points in the fourth quarter making for a lethal tag team with Andre Drummond who added 14 points and 7 rebounds, simply continuing his big night of bully ball around the rim.