Domantas Sabonis puts Eric Moreland on a poster

Indiana Pacers center Domantas Sabonis put the Detroit Pistons’ Eric Moreland on a poster in the first half of their Friday night matchup.

If there is one thing you shouldn’t do in the NBA, that’s step lightly to a man driving down the land for a dunk. In this case, Domantas Sabonis was the driver and Eric Moreland was the one on the wrong end of things during the Indiana Pacers meeting with the Detroit Pistons.

Lance Stephenson got the play rolling with a behind the back pass to Sabonis who saw nothing but paint in front of him. Moreland saw a chance to be the hero and make the save on defense, but didn’t commit to the effort.

That was a poor decision by Moreland.

You could see Sabonis looking for the slam early on, and perhaps he just wanted to impress his dad Arvydas Sabonis, who was in the house on Friday night.

Lance and Domas are quite a pair for the Pacers, as the fit together well as pick and roll partners. It helps too that Sabonis’ ability to find space makes him the perfect player to pair with Stephenson as he looks for assists. There is enough evidence already that Sabonis is already a glue guy within Indiana’s lineups.

More from 8 Points, 9 Seconds

• 2 Studs, 1 dud from gut-wrenching Indiana Pacers loss to Charlotte Hornets
• Handing out early-season grades for Pacers’ Bruce Brown, Obi Toppin
• 3 positives, 2 negatives in Pacers In-Season Tournament win vs. Cavaliers
• 2 positives, 3 negatives from first week of Indiana Pacers basketball
• Should Isaiah Jackson’s days with Indiana Pacers be numbered?

While the idea of replacing Myles Turner with Sabonis in the starting lineup has thankfully died off for now, the Lithuanian continues to impress coming off the bench for Indiana. Sabonis is the only bench player with a positive net rating on the season, though it only stands at 0.3.

it doesn’t hurt that Sabonis is one of the Pacers best rebounders, and his ability to get hot was evident early in the season as he put together several perfect and near perfect shooting nights.

Unfortunately for Indiana at this moment (the game isn’t over) the bench is being outscored 35-16. Plays like this are certainly fun, but the reserves need to tighten up things if Indiana is going to win. Tonight hasn’t been one of Sabonis’ best performances either, despite this beautiful dunk.

Next: Nate McMillan deserves some credit

Here’s to hoping Indiana puts it together to get the win.