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The Indiana Pacers saw a late rally fall short against the Detroit Pistons, foiled on a five second violation in the closing seconds of the game. Indiana used a 10-0 run in the fourth to take the lead, but Detroit's Stanley Johnson had a pair of big threes to keep the Pistons in control. Glenn Robinson III and Joe Young played well late, but down two with four seconds remaining, Nate Wolters failed to find Young on the inbounds, sending them to an 80-76 loss.
Indiana played well in the first quarter as part of their 1.5 points earned, but despite shooting over 60% in the first quarter, the shooting came down throughout the second and third quarters where Indiana had just 28 points. The late run fueled by Young and Robinson III made it a game late. Robinson III was especially fantastic, scoring the first eight of the game for Indiana and nine more in the fourth quarter.
Robinson III had 20 points and seven rebounds to lead Indiana in both categories, but he got help from Scotty Hopson, who wasn't short on highlight dunks.
Hopson with the JAM. https://t.co/xpLU7Ggqor
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) July 5, 2016
Hopson had 15 on 7-10 shooting and looked in tune with the game as a whole, despite three turnovers. Hopson had a pair of offensive boards to lead the Pacers with Rakeem Christmas and Julian Jacobs (who hit a buzzer beater to end the first quarter as part of his four points). Even the dynamics between Hopson and Robinson III were on display as Robinson III found Hopson for a nice alley-oop.
GR3 ➡️ Hopson https://t.co/YfExEMm9jf
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) July 5, 2016
Joe Young came on late for Indiana, but did struggle for a second straight game, scoring eight points on 4-13 shooting. Young was 0-5 from three point range, but Indiana as a team was just 1-17. Young's play has been somewhat disappointing following his tremendous first game, but it may be tough to tell how much is Young being Young and Young being hurt.
Either way, there's not going to be a ton of confidence in expanding Young's role heading into the regular season, but the same and more can be said for Shayne Whittington, who went scoreless on 0-3 shooting. As a project, there doesn't appear to be a lot of progress for Whittington, especially when seeing his forward counterpart Christmas playing well.
Christmas had 10 points and seven rebounds to go along with three blocks, helping to force a shot clock violation at a point in the game. Georges Niang also played well with 14 points on 5-9 shooting, hitting all four of his free throw attempts (noteworthy in a 69% team shooting effort). All three of Christmas, Niang, and Whittington did struggle with fouls, 17 coming between the three of them. Bigs and foul trouble are no strangers in the Summer League, but could be an issue for Niang against quicker NBA players.
Wolters (two points, three assists) and Armani Moore (three points, three assists) reached the scoreboard to help round out Indiana's scoring. The loss drops Indiana to 1-2, with 10.5 points, keeping Indiana in 6th in the Orlando Pro Summer League standings. Indiana will play their final "regular season" Summer League game tomorrow at 5 p.m. against the Oklahoma City Thunder.