In another game of poor shooting, the Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, 85-78, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals.
Indiana shot 34.7 percent from the field and this figure represents the team?s best field-goal percentage of the series. In the second period, the Pistons established a franchise playoff record for the lowest point total in one quarter of play with just 9. Detroit is shooting only 40.1 percent for the series.
Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton each scored 20 and Ben Wallace had 17 points, 16 rebounds.
Despite committing 10 turnovers in the second quarter, the Pistons had a 36-30 lead at the half.
With the game on the line after the Pacers cut a 12-point lead to one, Rasheed Wallace knocked down a fadeaway with 1:32 seconds left in the contest, fouled out Austin Croshere in the process, and hit the free throw for the 3-point play.
After another free throw by Tayshaun Prince made it 80-75, Al Harrington made a 3-point shot with 48.9 seconds left to pull the Pacers to 80-78. But Ben Wallace then followed a Rasheed Wallace miss. Wallace's ball hung on the rim for four excruciating bounces before it dropped through the net.
This gave the Pistons an 82-78 lead with 31.9 seconds remaining, then Rasheed Wallace blocked Al Harrington?s 3-point attempt with 21 seconds to seal the victory for Detroit.
It?s been ugly.
"It's basketball to me," Ben Wallace, a two-time NBA defensive player of the year, said prior to the low-percentage Game 3.
"We're going to have to shoot in the high 40's," said Reggie Miller after the game.
The 38-year-old Miller tossed the game ball into the stands in frustration just after the final horn sounded.
Game 4 is back in Detroit on Friday night.