Post-Game Grades: Lance Stephenson and the Pacers dance past Pistons

Lance Stephenson and the Indiana Pacers rallied from 22-points down to beat the Detroit Pistons and win the third of their last four games.

Lance made them — the Detroit Pistons, the Indiana Pacers, and everyone in Bankers Life Fieldhouse — dance.

What the hell happened? Indiana trailed by 22 points in the third quarter after an extended Pistons run and Lance Stephenson was scoreless.

But then Victor Oladipo got things rolling with a trio of baskets and the Pacers slowly took Detroit’s lead down to 10 going into the fourth.

Then Lance made them Dance.

Big rebounds, shots, and saves in the second half, as well as his defense, brought energy back into Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

A tip-in and a pair of 3-pointers punctuated his fourth-quarter surge as he ended the game with 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists.

He fought and clawed for so much while only making his teammate better. It was a team effort, but Lance was the fuel. He did all the things you hope The Good Lance does, and the team followed his lead.

The Good: The fight Indiana had in the second half wasn’t just exciting, but an actual first for the Pacers as far as team history as they came back from 22 points down. Gutting a win out like this is such a hard thing to make tangential, but it is something that bodes well for the Pacers future.

Indiana was outscored 76-56 in the first 30 minutes of the game but turned the tables with a 51-24 showing in the final 18 minutes.

There isn’t a downside to watching a team storm back — led by bench players even — and win the game, that’s for sure.

The Bad: Getting yourself down by 22, but why talk about that, the Pacers won!

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MVP: Lance was the fun part, and rightly the story, but Victor Oladipo, Thaddeus Young, and Domantas Sabonis carried the team in the second half, too. While the three’s combined 8 of 22 shooting (36.3%) won’t impress anyone, there were so many rebounds, box outs, dives, and dirty work plays by them that made sure the Pacers held on. Oladipo, Young, and Sabonis combined for 17 rebounds, 6 assists, and a pair of steals. You could really throw in Darren Collison and Cory Joseph as well. Pretty much everyone but Myles Turner (more on that later) that saw minutes in the second half played a role in the comeback.

LVP: Myles Turner’s poor performance only fuels the idea that Sabonis should replace him or Thaddeus Young. Myles sat out the entire fourth quarter as his 3 of 13 performance gave way to Sabonis’ only slightly better stat line of 4 of 10 for 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Turner hasn’t looked right since he came back from his concussion and Sabonis continues to play well. The noise will only get louder as Sabonis continues to grind out performances like this.

X-Factor: Lance is always the X-Factor.