Pacers Fight Off Pistons

April 5, 1999 / 11:51 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Reggie Miller has never been known for his defense. That may soon change.

Miller played perfect defense on Grant Hill as the Pistons guard was off the mark with his 12-foot turnaround that could have tied the game. Indiana's Dale Davis tipped the rebound to Travis Best and the Pacers pulled out a 88-86 victory over Detroit on Monday.

"I had an opportunity, and it just didn't fall," Hill said. "Sometimes you come through and sometimes you fail. That's just part of being in this league, and part of life. Hopefully, the coach will call my number again when we get back into a situation like that."

Related Links

More NBA coverage:

Although Miller led all scorers with 23 points, teammate Antonio Davis scored 17 points and made key contributions on both ends of the court in the waning minutes.

First, Davis' three-point play broke a 84-84 tie with 1:37 left. He took a pass from Travis Best and dunked as he was fouled by Don Reid.

Pistons center Bison Dele answered with a dunk, and Rik Smits hit one of two free throws to make it 88-86 with 1:07 left.

Davis then blocked Grant Hill's running jumper, but Best missed a leaner to give the Pistons another chance.

"We all knew they would be going to Grant, so once he got past Reggie (Miller), I picked him up," Davis said. "He went up for the shot, and I went up and blocked it."

After a Smits foul, Hill missed both free throws, but Dele was able to grab the loose-ball rebound.

Then came Hill's final miss.

"We haven't had much success here lately, and Detroit has been closing in on us, so this was a really big win for us," Miller said. "And we really had to earn it down the stretch - we just tried to make Grant earn everything he got. He'll hit that shot some of the time, and he'll miss it some of the time. This time, we got the bounce."

Dele leDetroit with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Hill added 18.

"Any time a game is tied late like that, it just turns into a race to the finish," Dele said. "Tonight, our car was just a little slower down the straightaways."

Indiana trailed by double figures early, but came back to tie the score at 46 at halftime. Miller had 14 in the half.

The Pacers started the third quarter quickly, jumping out to a 58-51 lead. But Joe Dumars hit a 3-pointer to get the Pistons going, and they trailed by just four, 69-65, at the end of the period.

Five points from Antonio Davis cut the Pacers deficit to seven, but Jud Buechler answered with a 3-pointer.

"Antonio went out there and played hard on offense and gave us a lift defensively," said Pacers coach Larry Bird. "It seemed like he was involved in every big play we made. And that's not the first big block he's given us."

Indiana's lead got down to two, but Miller and Jalen Rose hit back-to-back threes to make the score 82-74 with 4:55 to go.

Detroit, though, answered with a 7-0 run, and tied the game at 84 on Lindsey Hunter's 3-pointer with 2:01 left.

"I was proud of the way we fought back at the end," Piston coach Alvin Gentry said. "We could have folded when we got down eight, but we came back and tied the game back up. They just made the plays down the stretch and we didn't. We played extremely hard, and that makes you feel good."

NOTES: Mark Jackson missed the game to attend his father's memorial service. ... Jerry Stackhouse returned to the Piston lineup after missing four games with a sprained ankle. ... Indiana tied a season-high with 10 3-pointers. They now have 19 in their last two games. ... Loy Vaught, an expensive free-agent signing, has played just 11 minutes in Detroit's last five games. He didn't play at all in three of the games, including Monday against Indiana.