AUBURN HILLS -- Antonio McDyess doesn't say much, but when he saw the Detroit Pistons on the verge of blowing yet another game to a sub-.500 team, he had to speak up.
"I was screaming at them, telling them, 'we're not going to lose this lead,' " McDyess said.
While his words certainly resonated with his teammates, his play spoke even louder.It was McDyess' drive to win that played a pivotal role as Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak Friday and beat the Indiana Pacers 114-110.
McDyess, playing in his first game at The Palace of Auburn Hills since re-signing with Detroit, made six of his first seven shots and finished with 14 points, four rebounds and arguably the biggest blocked shot of the season.
With the score tied at 90 in the fourth quarter, McDyess hustled back to make a last-minute block on what Jarrett Jack thought would be an easy layup.
"I was imitating Tay," said McDyess, referring to Tayshaun Prince's block of a Reggie Miller layup in the 2004 Eastern Conference finals. "I was lucky to get that one, because I was tired."
Clinging to a two-point lead with eight seconds to play, Indiana had a chance to tie the game or take the lead.
Danny Granger, who already had scored a career-high 42 points, was going to be the one taking the final shot.
Everyone in The Palace knew this.
But the Pistons' defense, which had been shoddy most of the game, denied Granger the ball, which led to point guard T.J. Ford shooting in the lane over Prince.
Ford's shot hit the front of the rim and McDyess grabbed the rebound.
"There definitely wasn't no defense going until a couple of plays at the end," McDyess said.
Although McDyess played well, this was by no means a one-man victory.
Rodney Stuckey had a season-high 21 points, which included four 3-pointers, which is a career high. Iverson had a double-double, scoring 17 points to go with 12 assists. Iverson has scored 23,338 points in his career, which surpasses Robert Parish for No. 17 on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
Despite strong play from Stuckey and Iverson, the Pacers stayed within striking distance.
The close ending was in stark contrast to how the game began for Detroit and its "small ball" starting five.
It was the newest member of the starting unit, Stuckey, who set the tone early.
Stuckey, who had missed seven of his nine 3-point attempts this season coming into Friday's game, made back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter that gave Detroit a 26-21 lead.
In order to keep Stuckey fresh for the start of the second quarter, Pistons coach Michael Curry took him out near the end of the first and replaced him with Will Bynum.
Detroit didn't miss a beat, as Bynum scored four quick points and had a chance to end the quarter with an assist, but Tayshaun Prince missed an open jumper in the corner as the Pistons led 32-26 after the first.
Prince's miss would be one of the few shots that didn't fall for Detroit, which shot 58.3 percent in the first. The Pacers were even better in the first. They shot 64.7 percent, but the Pistons limited them to fewer than seven shot attempts.