Grade the Game: 2 Studs, 1 dud from Indiana Pacers win over Detroit Pistons

Dud - Obi Toppin

It was tough to pick a dud from this game, as everyone on the Indiana Pacers had a solid night against the Detroit Pistons, who just can’t seem to figure things out.

Obviously, there were some players who played better than others. Tyrese Haliburton didn’t score the ball very efficiently, but his 16 assists made up for that.

The reason Obi Toppin is being selected as the dud is that he was unable to live up to the expectations as a starter, only playing 12:09 minutes against Detroit.

Not every game is going to be a great one, but for a starter to only play just over 12 minutes is indicative of a subpar performance. Again, Toppin wasn’t terrible, but he was outplayed.

Aaron Nesmith ended up earning 26:34 off the pine, reassuming the starting forward role that he took up for the majority of last season, which was his first with the Pacers.

As for Toppin, he ended the game with six points and three rebounds while shooting 3-of-5 from the floor and 0-of-2 from behind the three-point line.

This has been a trend this season, as oftentimes, when Toppin isn’t playing well, he’ll get demoted to a bench-like role despite starting the game in the first five.

Grade: C