INDIANAPOLIS – The Detroit Pistons might have found the perfect formula for Josh Smith.

Take fewer outside shots and instead look for more opportunities near the basket.

Pistons' fans have been clamoring for that all season and the new approach has worked so far as Smith topped the 30-point barrier in back-to-back games against the top two teams in the NBA.

He scored 31 in Sunday's overtime loss to Portland at The Palace before bagging 30 Monday in a 101-96 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who brought the NBA's best record into the game and were unbeaten in their first 11 games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse running into the Pistons.

"I'm trying ... to find my groove on the team," Smith said after the Pistons ended a six-game losing streak against Indiana. "I just have to go out and play my game and hopefully everybody else will adjust."

Coach Maurice Cheeks had a recent discussion with Smith about changing his role with the Pistons, who signed Smith to a four-year, $54-million free-agent contract last summer.

Cheeks didn't tell Smith not to shoot as much from the outside – he was 1-for-4 against Indiana on 3-pointers – but Cheeks wants to get Smith the ball on the blocks more often to increase his chances of scoring.

So far, it's worked well.

Smith made 13 of 17 shots against Portland and then sank 13 of 29 against the Pacers.

"We talked about it," Cheeks said, "putting the ball in his hands a little bit more and trying to get him off the perimeter ... to try and get him on the block a little bit more. Just give him a little more opportunity scoring wise

"I went to him. We just talked about what we can do to get him better, get him better shots, get him more comfortable on the block. It was a two-way conversation, what I could do to make him better because him better makes us better.

"I just looked at his numbers in Atlanta and figured out what I could do to get him better shots."

That said, the Pistons might have beaten Portland had they kept going to Smith in the late stages.

Smith took 16 shots in the first three quarters but got just one more in the fourth quarter and OT as the Trail Blazers erased an 11-point deficit through three quarters before winning on Damian Lillard's 14-foot jumper with one-tenth of a second left in overtime.

"It wasn't like I didn't not go to him," Cheeks said. "I thought I put the ball in his hands. Maybe not enough. Maybe I should have gotten the ball to him a little bit more in the latter (stages) of the fourth quarter and overtime but I like my chances putting the ball in (Rodney) Stuckey's hands. We just didn't score.

"It' not like (getting Smith the ball low) wasn't a point of emphasis of before. We just did it a little bit more. It wasn't about their defenders or whatever. I made a concerted effort to put the ball in his hands a little bit more on the block and we did that.

"We had success with it and we'll continue with that."

In his first nine NBA seasons before coming to Detroit, Smith averaged 15.3 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 46 percent.

In 26 games with the Pistons, he's averaging 15.0 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 41 percent.

Smith was primarily a power forward in Atlanta but moved to small forward this year to accommodate Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond in the Pistons' starting lineup.

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