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Thursday, Feb. 15 7:00pm ET
Stackhouse's 40 not enough for Detroit

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jalen Rose broke out of a shooting slump the only way he knew how. He kept shooting.

"There are shots and plays you practice every single day. Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. You've got to keep playing and stay aggressive," said Rose, who had a season-low seven points, but hit a big 3-pointer with just over a minute to go to save Indiana's 82-73 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

"It was a shot we needed at the time, being up five, and they were making a run," Rose said. "I just had to keep playing and shooting. There wasn't really anything going on in my head at the time, just that I had a shot and wanted to knock it down."

Rose was 2-for-10 with six straight misses before his 3-pointer put the Pacers up 76-68, and the Pistons never recovered.

Reggie Miller led the Pacers with 19 points and Austin Croshere also came up with two big 3-pointers in the final period as the Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak.

"Jalen didn't have a good offensive game, but in terms of distributing the ball, he was big for us," said Indiana coach Isiah Thomas, noting Rose's game-high nine assists. "We definitely will take it. I thought our defensive effort was great."

Jerry Stackhouse had 40 points for the Pistons, who cut a 14-point Indiana lead to four early in the final period. Croshere then hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and after Detroit again pulled within five, Rose hit from long range to put the game out of reach.

Indiana scored its final six points on free throws, with two apiece by Croshere, Travis Best and Miller.

"I'm not one to make excuses normally, but I think fatigue was a factor," Stackhouse said. "We couldn't get any shots to go down. We had good ball movement and some good open looks, but we just couldn't hit any."

Al Harrington added 16 points for the Pacers, while Best and Croshere finished with 11 apiece. John Wallace, who fouled out with 21 seconds to go, had 11 points and was the only other Piston in double figures besides Stackhouse.

"He's high-octane," Thomas said of Stackhouse, who was 14-for-28. "He gets up a lot of shots. We just wanted to make sure we contain everybody else and keep them out of the game."

Besides Stackhouse and Wallace, the other Pistons combined for 6-of-43 shooting.

"We didn't get any easy shots, but we couldn't hit the shots we got, although I was pleased with our effort," Detroit coach George Irvine said.

Detroit had just five field goals in the first quarter, but the first four were on 3-pointers, three by Stackhouse. His third gave the Pistons their final lead at 15-14 before an inadvertent 3-pointer by Harrington -- he was trying to lob the ball to a cutting Best -- put the Pacers ahead for good.

Sam Perkins, just activated after six games on the injured list, hit two baskets at the end of the first quarter, then Miller and Croshere scored the first two baskets of the second period as Indiana took its first 10-point lead.

The Pacers built the lead to 12, but Stackhouse hit two free throws and scored on a drive to the basket, pulling the Pistons to 38-30. Three more baskets by Stackhouse cut the lead to six before two free throws by Best gave Indiana a 46-38 lead at the break.

The Pacers' biggest lead was 52-38 early in the third quarter.

Game notes
Stackhouse, who entered the game third in league scoring at 29.4 a game, has led Detroit in points in 45 of his 50 games this season. ... The Pacers have won six straight against Detroit. ... Miller, who hit one 3-pointer, needs eight more to extend his NBA record to 12 consecutive seasons with at least 100 3-pointers. ... The Pacers avoided dropping eight games under .500 for the first time since they were 22-30 during the 1991-92 season. ... The Pacers are 7-10 when Miller is the leading scorer. ... Rose's previous season-low was eight points against Portland on Jan. 25.

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NBA Scoreboard

Detroit Clubhouse

Indiana Clubhouse

RECAPS
Indiana 82
Detroit 73

Miami 98
Toronto 91

Dallas 102
Cleveland 81

San Antonio 102
Washington 78

Portland 105
Sacramento 81

Boston 108
Seattle 88

Vancouver 99
Golden State 89

FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT

Jerry Stackhouse Official Site

Reggie Miller Official Site


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