(Field Level Media) Bennedict Mathurin piled up 30 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and the visiting Indiana Pacers handed the Detroit Pistons their single-season, franchise-record-tying 20th consecutive loss, 131-123, last night.
Indiana was coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA in-season tournament championship game Saturday.
Myles Turner had 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Buddy Hield contributed 16 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 14 points and 16 assists.
Aaron Nesmith notched 13 points and Bruce Brown had 11 points and nine rebounds as the Pacers’ bench supplied 61 points.
The Pacers shot 56.5 percent from the field, including a 13-for-31 performance beyond the arc. The Pistons made 55.6 percent of their field goal tries but were 10 for 29 on 3-point attempts.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Ausar Thompson had 20 points and six rebounds, while Jaden Ivey tossed in 18 points. Bojan Bogdanovic added 17 points and Alec Burks chipped in 14.
The Pacers finished the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 66-61 halftime lead. They shot 58.3 percent from the field for the half. Mathurin led the way with 16 points.
Cunningham topped Detroit, which committed three turnovers during Indiana’s spurt, with 15 points.
Hield knocked down a 3-pointer, off a feed from Haliburton, with 9:35 left in the third to give Indiana a double-digit lead at 75-65.
The Pistons responded with a 12-4 spurt, capped by a Cunningham dunk, to cut Indiana’s advantage to two points.
A 9-1 run by the Pacers, which included five points and two assists from Mathurin, made it 88-78. Detroit cut the deficit in half by the end of the quarter, as Indiana led 98-93.
Nesmith’s layup with eight minutes to go gave the Pacers a 111-102 lead. Midway through the quarter, the score was 115-108.
Turner’s three-point play with 4:39 left made it 122-112. Detroit couldn’t recover from that point.
