With a few minutes left in the second quarter on Saturday night in Detroit, the Pistons led the Pacers by 23. That’s when Jonas Jerebko — yup, him — climbed the ladder for the putback slam and a 25-point Pistons lead. From there on out, though, things changed, and Paul George was the biggest reason why in Indiana’s stunning, 112-104, comeback win.
Here’s Jerbeko’s follow-up dunk and the ensuing ‘Sheed celebration with Brandon Jennings, the former of which we’ve seen before.
But the Pacers steadily climbed out of their first half hole, starting after the Jerebko follow. A long George jumper just before the half cut the Pistons lead to 19. But he was far from done.
In the third, George continued to light up the Pistons, scoring 14 points and culminating in a rare three-pointer (he was just 2-for-10 beyond the arc) right before the end of the third to cut the Pistons big first-half lead to just six.
In the fourth, Evan Turner added 10 points, and George poured in six more. A Roy Hibbert shot tied the score at 100 and sent it to overtime. David West was 3-for-3 in the extra session and the Pacers avoided regressing back to a succession of losses. They’ve now won three in a row after losing four straight prior to that, endangering their top seed in the East.
For the game George had 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
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