The Raptors survive a putrid first half as Kyle Lowry’s second-half inspires Raptors to beat Pacers in the home-opener.
 | Luis Scola, PF 17 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 0 PTS | +1 +/-Got the start, and I’m not saying it’s his fault, but the Pacers were killing us in transition whenever him and JV were in the game together. The Raptors didn’t look for him on offense so he was mostly a void there, which meant we got the bad defense without the offense. Not a good tradeoff. |  | |||||||
 | DeMarre Carroll, SF 41 MIN | 5-14 FG | 3-6 FT | 8 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | +8 +/-Man, he might just be the first Raptor whose jersey I actually buy. The guy is tenacious and shutdown Paul George pretty much every time. He’s ruthless on defense and you can just tell he’s in the offensive players’ mind. Hurt himself but came back, and seemingly with even more tenaciousness. Found himself in some ‘weird’ situations where he had to go one-on-one, and you can tell that’s not his game, nor does he want any part of that. |  | |||||||
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 32 MIN | 8-11 FG | 5-6 FT | 15 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | +7 +/-Huge in the first half and without him we’re down 20 at the break. Finished most of his shots around the rim, and didn’t hesitate on his jumpers – make or miss. The guy’s much better at catching the return pass back to him on the screen ‘n roll, mostly because he’s now expecting it rather than guessing whether it’s coming. Big in the fourth as well, and good to see him get PT there. |  | |||||||
 | Kyle Lowry, PG 38 MIN | 8-17 FG | 5-6 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 5 TO | 23 PTS | +4 +/-Take a bow. Saw that his team was labouring in the first half and came out guns blazing in the second to simply destroy George Hill and Indiana with his sheer pace and bullish drive on the break. Gave Indiana a taste of its own medicine in transition. The team desperately needed a lift and their best player gave it to them. | | |||||||
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 36 MIN | 7-17 FG | 10-16 FT | 5 REB | 6 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 25 PTS | +1 +/-Poor shooting game and painful to watch on offense for most of the game. I’m surprised he drew the fouls that he did on his mid-range jumpers, but I’ll take it. There’s something to be said about his assist game here, mostly that when he gets in trouble, he seems to find a pass out of it and often times, it led to a score. He made up for it with a couple huge shots down the stretch, one over Paul George and a drive for an And1. If we would’ve lost this game, we would’ve looked hard at him, but in the end, he gave us clutch points. |  | |||||||
 | James Johnson, PF 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +6 +/-Played three weird minutes just so Dwane Casey didn’t have to answer a DNPCD question in the press conference. |  | |||||||
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 19 MIN | 3-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | +4 +/-Can we start Scola, play him for one minute, and then bring Patterson off the bench so he plays the minutes without feeling the ‘starter pressure’? The guy was influential in the second half when the Raptors made their run. Even faked a three, stepped in, and hit a jumper which must’ve helped his confidence. The shot looked much better and hesitated a lot less than he did in preseason. |  | |||||||
 | Bismack Biyombo, PF 16 MIN | 3-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 7 PTS | -1 +/-Relentless. The guy has a nose for being where the ball’s going to be, and is challenging on every shot that he’s within 8 feet of. Finished a couple put backs and at the very least, you can just see that the offense is thinking about him whenever they get into the paint.  Made the Grandstand highlight of the night. |  | |||||||
 | Terrence Ross, SF 8 MIN | 1-4 FG | 2-2 FT | 0 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | +5 +/-Managed to pick up three fouls in two minutes in the first half, but came back in the fourth and did some nice ball-handling and even setup a couple nice scores, one for Biyombo. |  | |||||||
 | Cory Joseph, PG 28 MIN | 1-4 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 3 PTS | -3 +/-Was made to work on D by Rodney Stuckey, and wasn’t able to penetrate like he wanted to. Had a couple careless passes and loose dribbles which went for turnovers and got converted to points, and sort of took him out of the game. |  | |||||||
 | Dwane Casey Went with Scola to start and that backfired fast because Indiana’s plan was all about running the Raptors into the ground, and they had success early. The offense looks rather putrid and if it weren’t for Kyle Lowry’s second-half individual performance which inspired the team, this is probably a loss. Still, I think other than DeRozan hogging possessions, I like that they at least try to move the ball, set multiple screens, execute 1-3 and 1-4 pick ‘n rolls..it’s positive.Good call on the Biyombo/JV usage in the fourth, but he’s got to manage Lowry’s minutes a little better. Can’t have him being driven into the ground. I have no idea how Cory Joseph ended up guarding Paul George to tie the game late. That made no sense. | | |||||||
Five Things We Saw
- The Raptors shot 33% in the first half and looked terrible on offense. It was a classic case of their defense keeping in them in the game by only conceding 15 in the second quarter.
- If the Raptors had just taken care of transition defense from the start of the game, this would’ve been a much easier game. Need to clean that up.
- DeRozan has to realize that him dribbling around looking for his shot is not healthy. We got away with it here, but the Raptors offense is great when the ball’s with Lowry and he’s attacking and probing screens, not when DeRozan is hunting for his looks.
- Love me some Biyombo. I love players that get in the opposition’s head and he’s one of them. Having Biyombo along with Carroll – both mobile and defensively aggressive players give the lineup a personality we haven’t had.
- The 20 turnovers is way to high, but the good news is that a lot of them were unforced and easy to clean up. They really fueled Indiana’s offense in that first half.
