Indiana @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 23, 2019 ) Detroit 119, Indiana 110

The Indiana Pacers are still looking for their first win of the young season and already get a shot at some revenge when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Monday. The Pistons earned a 119-110 victory at Indiana in the season opener but dropped the next two games at home and are trying to avoid a three-game home losing streak.

Detroit is still waiting for star forward Blake Griffin (knee) to make his season debut and is also working around an injury to starting point guard Reggie Jackson (back), and didn't have quite enough firepower down the stretch on Saturday to outlast the Philadelphia 76ers in a 117-111 setback. "Guys are working their behinds off," Pistons coach Dwane Casey told reporters. "They're playing hard. We've got to learn to do it as a team until we get Blake back, get Reggie back, whenever that is." The Pacers followed up their season-opening loss to Detroit by falling 110-99 at Cleveland on Saturday and are looking for more intensity on the defensive end. "They pretty much did whatever they wanted," Indiana coach Nate McMillan told reporters after the latest setback. "We're not stopping anyone. They dominated the paint once again. More physical than we were throughout this game. ... More aggressive team. More scrappy team. We dug ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, FS Detroit

ABOUT THE PACERS (0-2): Indiana was beaten up on the interior by Detroit center Andre Drummond (32 points, 23 rebounds) in the opener and struggled to defend the Cleveland frontcourt of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson in Saturday's loss. The bright spot for the Pacers is the strong start from point guard Malcolm Brogdon, who averaged 26 points and 10.5 assists while recording a double-double in both games. "We got to believe," Brogdon told reporters. "We got to up our energy, our confidence, our swag. We got to believe we're going to go out and win every night."

ABOUT THE PISTONS (1-2): Detroit's best player in the early going has been former MVP Derrick Rose, but the team is reluctant to push the oft-injured star past 30 minutes and is committed to keeping him with the second unit. "I just wish we had more time to play him," Casey told reporters of Rose. "I'm sitting there watching the clock. Medically, he can't. I would love to play him 40 minutes, but just can't do it. He stirs the drink. He makes things happen. No disrespect to the guys who start, but we're just kind of buying minutes for him to get in there." Rose is averaging 25.3 points on 64.6 percent shooting in 26.3 minutes.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons SG Luke Kennard scored 30 points in the opener at Indiana and is averaging 19.7 points.

2. Pacers SG Jeremy Lamb (hip pointer) sat out Saturday and is day-to-day.

3. Drummond recorded a double-double in each of the first three games.

PREDICTION: Pacers 103, Pistons 100