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Detroit Pistons head home to face the Indiana Pacers

By Duncan Smith

Dec 16, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Ish Smith (14) passes the ball as Washington Wizards guard Trey Burke (33) defends during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 16, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Ish Smith (14) passes the ball as Washington Wizards guard Trey Burke (33) defends during the first half at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Detroit Pistons head home to the Palace of Auburn Hills to face the Indiana Pacers in a battle of confusing Central Division teams.

The Detroit Pistons (14-14) head home to the Palace to face the Indiana Pacers (13-14) in a battle of teams defying expectations for all the wrong reasons this season. The Pacers were projected by some to be a top-three or top-four Eastern Conference team after a series of trades to bring in Jeff Teague and Thad Young, but things haven’t gone as planned.

The new Pacers have struggled with production as in both per-36 minutes and per 100 possessions they’ve seen their worst production levels in years. Part of that is due to the fact that the Pacers simply aren’t as good as they were expected to be, and part of that is due to the fact that neither player has had a teammate at the level of Paul George before.

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George is an elite talent who demands the ball. He has a 27.4 percent usage rate, and he’s experiencing career-high levels in production. He has a true shooting rate of 57 percent, and is scoring almost 22 points per game. As George goes, so go the Pacers.

The Pacers also have a star in the making in the form of 20-year-old Myles Turner. The young big man will try to keep the pressure on Andre Drummond and make life difficult for the Pistons’ own star big man. Turner is averaging 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, playing 29 minutes per appearance. He has started all 26 games he’s played in this season for the Pacers.

The Pacers have a hometown connection for Piston fans in the form of former University of Michigan star Glenn Robinson III. Robinson has played 25 games for the Pacers, starting eight of them. He’s averaging six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes per game. Robinson has started the last three games of the season for the Pacers.

The Pistons are coming off a disappointing 122-108 loss on Friday night against the Washington Wizards. They’ve been a completely different team at home compared to the way they play on the road, so for better or worse, there’s very little to take into Saturday’s game from the previous night’s outing.

Related Story: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's absence shows his value

The Pistons will be without Jon Leuer, perhaps the most important player to the team this season. This means Marcus Morris will be getting a boost of minutes at the four, and Henry Ellenson may be forced into action to eat up minutes.

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