Malcolm Brogdon's return to full strength buoys Pacers vs. Pistons

The Indiana Pacers generated some excitement for their long-term prospects by acquiring young point guard Tyrese Haliburton from the Sacramento Kings prior to the trade deadline.

Malcolm Brogdon has reminded everyone this week that the Pacers already had a solid point guard.

Brogdon carried the Pacers to an overtime victory in Orlando on Wednesday. Indiana now heads to Detroit to face the Pistons on Friday night.

Brogdon has appeared in just three games since mid-January due to an Achilles tendon injury. In his second game back on Sunday, the 2016-17 Rookie of the Year supplied 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in a 128-107 victory over the Boston Celtics.

He upped the ante in Indiana's 122-114 win over the Magic, piling up 31 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in 41 minutes. He had 14 fourth-quarter points as the Pacers erased a 15-point deficit.

"He's the leader of our team," forward Jalen Smith said. "So whenever we're in situations like that, we always look to him to do his thing."

Brogdon was limited to 31 and 29 minutes in his first two games back. His performance on Wednesday showed that he's back at full strength.

"(Wednesday) was a night to test it," he said. "We'd been sitting out the fourth quarter of the last couple games, so (Wednesday) was the night to push it and see how it responded. And so far it's responded really well."

Haliburton overcame some erratic shooting early on to score five overtime points. He finished with 21 points, the sixth time he's reached the 20-point mark in eight games since the trade. He is averaging 20.4 points and 9.6 assists for the Pacers.

"Tyrese Haliburton was having a struggling game all night long," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "Came back into the fourth and banged in two big threes, then banged one in in overtime. They were enormous, enormous plays."

The Pacers and Pistons have split their first two matchups this season, with Detroit winning 97-89 at home on Nov. 17 and Indiana prevailing 122-113 at home on Dec. 16.

Detroit has won four of its past six games, including a 108-106 thriller in Toronto on Thursday. The Pistons led by 18 in the third quarter, then barely held off the Raptors' fourth-quarter surge.

"We had to control our emotions down the stretch," Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. "You can't let calls or non-calls or missed shots evaporate your energy. It's a great lesson for us. Win, lose or draw, it was a great lesson on 'contain yourself, play within yourself, don't let emotions get the best of you no matter what's happening.'

"Going down the road for our young guys, that's going to be a huge help."

Jerami Grant (26 points), Saddiq Bey (23) and Cade Cunningham (22) provided most of Detroit's offense. Bey made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 14.2 seconds left and Cunningham had a pivotal block with 3.6 seconds remaining.

"We just tried to stay poised down the stretch, make the right plays and live with the results," Bey said. "When we had leads like that, we used to give it up earlier in the season. We've gotten better at calming down and playing at the right pace."

--Field Level Media