Sampson had his long hair and Kyle Lowry has his headband. Looking like an aerobics instructor from the 1980s, Lowry notched his second triple-double of the season as the Raptors comfortably handled the Pacers in Indianapolis, 117-98.
In perhaps the most consistent quarter-to-quarter performance in months, the Raptors didn’t need to rely on any late heroics to complete the season sweep of the surging Pacers. Kyle Lowry opened the game with a tough, step back three and kept the ball rolling from there, finishing the first half with a Westbrook-like 12 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The biggest scare of the game came at the end of the second quarter when the Pacers narrowed a once 14-point gap to four by turning a number of early shot-clock misses by the Raptors into points on the other end.
The Raptors quickly undid the damage inflicted late in the second quarter by opening the third hitting four consecutive threes as part of a 14-3 Toronto run. Valanciunas was a total stud, collecting a number of loose balls and second chance points, and finishing with 8 points and 6 rebounds in the quarter.
The fourth was somewhat of a grind-it-out, ‘we’re not going to f*ck this up’ affair, as the Raptors got to the line 16 times and clamped down on defense, holding the Pacers scoreless for the final 3 minutes and 16 seconds.
Positive Takeaways
- Four quarters of solid basketball. No heart medication needed for this one.
- Lowry looked like his December self: spunky, fearless and en fuego.
- Three point shooting:
- The Raptors opened each quarter with a three and hit twelve of them in the game. They shot 52.2 percent from beyond the arc.
- Lowry was 5-8 from deep. He’s shooting 51.2 percent from deep after six games the month of March. (He shot 24 percent in 10 games in February).
- The Pacers, on the other hand, shot 2-of-19. The Raptors D was pretty good in this one but the Pacers also simply missed a number of open looks.
- Defense: The Pacers shot 43 percent for the game and a dreadful 22 percent in the fourth. I thought Jonas did an especially nice job against Hibbert in the first half. Hill got by Lowry on a number of occasions but nevertheless, Lowry looked more committed defensively than I’ve seen from him in a while. It wasn’t a brilliant defensive performance from the Raptors, but it’s a step in the right direction.
- Rebounding: The Raptors owned the rebounding battle 51 to 36.
- DeRozan’s second half restraint: After firing up a number of questionable shots in a 5-of-15 first half, DeMar took only four shots in the second half, while getting to the line 9 times.
Negatives:
- DeRozan’s shot selection in the first half (see above).
- James Johnson DNP-CD. Two thoughts on this: 1.) He’s too good not to play. 2.) Casey is creating a potentially volatile situation late in the season.
- The Raptors played loose, ‘unconscious’ basketball (term coined by Pacers’ broadcast team), which was nice to see, but that also led to a lot of questionable shots early in the possession. Nature of the beast, I suppose.
