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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Let's not beat a dead horse. Or, in this case, a dead offense.

Sure, the Indiana Pacers shot under 35 percent against the Detroit Pistons for the third straight game, and Jermaine O'Neal had to fly without a wingman again in an 85-78 loss at The Palace on Wednesday night.

Putting that aside for the moment, though, let's discuss the unexpected development that left the Pacers in a 13-point hole, one from which they never escaped, and that forced them to scratch and claw the final three quarters.

Would you believe shoddy defense from Indiana?

In an Eastern Conference finals pitting two of the league's stingiest Ds, the Pacers' breakdowns in the first quarter were so complete that the Pistons continued to run their layup lines after the tip, scoring nine point-blank baskets -- three of them dunks -- for a 27-14 lead.

The 52.2-percent shooting in the first quarter helped the Pistons ride out a second-quarter drought during which they shot just 25 percent and managed only nine points. For the game, Detroit shot 44.1 percent and scored 42 of its 85 points inside the key.

"I didn't think we were aggressive enough in the first quarter," Austin Croshere said. "We were just kind of out there, a little lethargic. It was a combination of things."

"We just didn't do well enough to tighten up the D," Ron Artest said. "We got better in the second half, the fourth quarter."

Rip Hamilton's fastbreak layup -- the first field goal of the game -- began a procession to the basket that was the Pistons' best offensive flow of the series. The Pistons even got fancy with their passing, Corliss Williamson's behind-the-back feed set up Ben Wallace for a layin and Chauncey Billups' no-look dish to Williamson led to an alley oop for a Rasheed Wallace tap-in.

The parting of the Pacers' defense continued as Hamilton drove down the lane unmolested for a 19-10 lead. Billups kept the fun going with a no-look bounce pass to Wallace for a baseline jumper and a 21-10 lead.

The Pacers continued to stand around on defense and stare. Wallace's dunk made it 25-12. Then Mike James drove all the way around Indiana's front line and along the left baseline for a wide-open layup and a 27-14 cushion.

Of the Pistons' 15 first-half field goals, 11 were layups or dunks. Overall, 19 of their 30 baskets came on layups or dunks.

"When you're at home, you can take a little more chances. You can try and push the ball and run a little more," Billups said. "I felt we got some great opportunities as far as transition goes. You can take some quick shots because you know you have the crowd behind you. We did that and we were very, very aggressive and it turned good for us."

Added Hamilton: "We did a lot of good screening tonight. When we screen like that, everybody gets easy baskets."

The Pistons' final point-blank bucket turned out to be the most important. Left alone on the weakside, Ben Wallace tipped in Rasheed Wallace's missed layup with 31.7 seconds to push Detroit to an 82-78 lead and avert a late comeback by Indiana.

Now down 2-1, the Pacers face the dreaded must-win situation in Game 4 on Friday.

"We have to get a better start on Friday and put ourselves in a position to play from in front if we can possibly do it," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's pretty hard to play from behind on the road."

Joe Lago is the NBA editor at ESPN.com.