After suffering a demoralizing loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, the Toronto Raptors rebounded in Game 2 with a commanding 98-87 victory despite poor shooting nights from the team’s two stars, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Excellent personnel decisions from Raptors head coach Dwane Casey and a career night from Jonas Valanciunas ensured the Raptors came away with the win.
The Raptors opened the game with shots from Luis Scola and DeMarre Carroll, which went about as well as you’d expect. Neither player had a strong night, and their minutes were rightly limited as a result.
Soon after, however, Lowry recognized how the Pacers were guarding him — hedging hard on pick and rolls and doubling him on drives — and exploited it by becoming a distributor. Nearly every pick play resulted in either a wide-open shot under the rim or an open 3-pointer in the first quarter, and by the end of the period Lowry had tallied five assists. Two of those assists were alley-oop passes to Valanciunas, who finished the first quarter with 13 points, seven rebounds, and terrific defense inside.
Just how good was his defense, you ask? The Pacers only scored two points in the paint in the first, and those two points were no Valanciunas’ fault, as they came in the form of an alley-oop layup in transition courtesy of Myles Turner. Jonas also forced Paul George into his second foul of the game in the first quarter, sending him to the bench with four minutes left in the period.
Valanciunas slowed down in the second quarter, though, and shot 2-of-7 from the field despite his hot start. In turn, the Raptors sought to establish DeRozan and Lowry as scoring threats, but once again neither could shake off whatever nerves or rust were bothering them. DeRozan shot 0-of-3, and Lowry 1-of-4. An attempt at involving Carroll in the offense saw DeMarre throw up an unreachable floating pass to Valanciunas, resulting in a turnover.
If it weren’t for the Raptors’ stellar bench unit, one that included Cory Joseph, Patrick Patterson, Norman Powell, and Terrence Ross or Bismack Biyombo (depending on matchups), things probably would have gotten out of hand.
While the Raptors’ offense wasn’t stopped, it stalled enough to let the Pacers make a run. Paul George and Monta Ellis each scored 10 points in the second quarter, eventually cutting what was at one point a 14-point lead down to five at the half. George finished the game with 28 points on 8-of-15 from the field and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. He did some things, but aside from the second quarter was unable to establish any real rhythm.
Rod Black asked Valanciunas at the half what the Raptors would talk about in the locker room, to which Jonas replied, “I don’t know; that’s what coaches do,” with a wry smile on his face. The team was beaming, and for good reason; without major contributions from DeRozan and Lowry, they were winning.
The third quarter saw the beginnings of a shift in tone, sort of.
DeRozan continued to launch bricks outside the flow of the offense to the tune of six points on seven shots, and it was left to Lowry to clean up the mess. Carroll also played nine minutes in the third, recording two points, one rebound, and one turnover.
At the same time, George continued to light up DeRozan. For Casey, that was enough. While DeRozan was allowed to finish the third, he didn’t see a single minute in the fourth quarter. Not one. Nor did Carroll.
Instead, Casey rolled out Lowry, Joseph, Powell, Patterson, and Biyombo to start the fourth, and they’d stay in the game until both teams emptied their benches in garbage time. This unit (and variations of it) have proven reliable all season, and Monday night was no exception.
With two ball handlers on the floor, the Pacers simply couldn’t keep up. Their rotations were too slow, and they’d frequent over-help on one of Lowry or Joseph and end up losing the other.
On one occasion, Lowry tried to save a failed offensive possession with a drifting fadeaway from the left corner. The shot was short, but Patterson viciously grabbed the rebound and kicked the ball out to Joseph to reset the offense. Moments later, Joseph casually drove to the right corner and whipped a bounce pass to Biyombo under the rim for an and-one dunk.
The Pacers were frantically looking around that whole possession, unsure of what was about to happen and desperately trying to anticipate what would come next. It’s clear that the Pacers didn’t plan for the Raptors’ small ball lineups, or at least not well enough to guard them effectively.
After later-game heroics from Lowry — seven free throws and five (!) boards in the fourth — the game was over. Just like that. Pacers head coach Frank Vogel emptied his bench with just over three minutes left in the game, and Casey did the same over the next few possessions.
This game is a reminder that the Raptors aren’t a one-trick pony, and that they’re capable of winning without big scoring nights from their starting backcourt. Credit the bench (and Valanciunas!) for holding things together, and of course the infallible Kyle Lowry. The Raptors’ four highest net ratings belonged to Patterson, Powell, Lowry, and Joseph, in that order.
Valanciunas is now averaging 17.5 points and 17 rebounds per game in the playoffs, by the way. Yes, the sample is small, the Pacers lack the raw size to handle him, and they clearly didn’t expect him to be a factor like this, but Valanciunas has been playing his ass off. He’s scoring in every way imaginable — he even hit a one-footed Dirk-esque fadeaway in the post — and fighting for every ball within 10 feet of him. And believe it or not, he was second on the team in total touches tonight, behind only Lowry.
The team is trusting him and he’s responding well. 23 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks, and a 30.9 usage rate in Game 2 are pretty darn impressive.
And let’s give Lowry a shout out for looking for Jonas.
Lowry finished the night with nine assists, four secondary (hockey) assists, and one free throw assist. Dude might not have been able to score reliably, but he sure made his presence felt and contributed in so many other ways. He even guarded Paul George on a few possessions, resulting in this:
All in all, a stupendous team effort from the Raptors and a much-needed win to even the series at 1-1. After losing the lead very early in the first quarter, the Pacers never truly regained momentum. This is what most fans expected this series to be like. Let’s hope the boys in red can bring this level of play to Indiana, where they play the Pacers on Thursday.
And for the love of all things good in the world, relax, DeRozan. Let the offense come to you.
