Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Raptors fall to the Pacers hot shooting

The game started the same way it ended, in a way. Myles Turner punishing the Raptors from downtown, Aaron Holiday slithering into the teeth of the Raptors defense, and Domantas Sabonis smashing around on the interior. Kyle Lowry and the Raptors fought tooth and nail to bring themselves back into this game. Ultimately, they fell…

The game started the same way it ended, in a way. Myles Turner punishing the Raptors from downtown, Aaron Holiday slithering into the teeth of the Raptors defense, and Domantas Sabonis smashing around on the interior. Kyle Lowry and the Raptors fought tooth and nail to bring themselves back into this game. Ultimately, they fell short, and not in a way that left a bad taste in anyones mouth. But rather, a sense of pride in a team that continues to battle.

The Pacers trotted out the aforementioned Holiday with Malcolm Brogdon out with an injury, and they received one of the best games of his season. That started early, when the Pacers decided they had the tools to punish the Raptors defense. Sabonis operated as the linchpin, a central hub of the Pacers attack – holding the ball way above his head as he shifted to feign DHO’s, before he sprayed the ball to the opposite wing and sprinted over that way to set a screen. There was a lot of action, and it worked against a Raptors defense that spent a lot of time catching up – particularly in the opening quarter and in overtime.

The middle quarters did belong to the Raptors, though. And for the second game in a row that seemed to be almost exclusively because of Lowry’s indomitable will. The Pacers were running very cohesive sets, wherein they would create enough movement until they found themselves passing into open shots. The Raptors offense looked like some strange version of 2014-15 when DeMar DeRozan was injured and Jonas Valanciunas was off the floor. The team watched Lowry grind and grift for free throws, for layups – you name it. For what it’s worth, Serge Ibaka was a terrific release valve and he shot the lights out. OG Anunoby had his moments, VanVleet as well as he pushed relentlessly in transition.

Lowry executed a picture perfect end to the third quarter, stealing away the lead from the Pacers for the first time. With roughly a minute left he ran a pick n’ roll and faked a pass that sent three players into the paint. He passed the ball out quickly and relocated for a spot-up triple that dropped in. The very next possession he let the ball roll up the floor and picked it up before snatching back his dribble, stepping back and hitting a triple to sustain the 2-for-1 opportunity. And finally, he motored up the court with just seconds left and glided to the glass for a layup to turn a 5-point deficit into a one point lead within one minute, by himself. It was masterful.

In between those heroics, though, the Pacers kept plugging away with their offense. To their credit, the ancillary pieces came to play, as baskets from Holiday and TJ Warren kept the Raptors at bay for some time before Lowry’s explosion. And that dedication to taking the shots that were working for them and available was what allowed them to emerge victorious at the end of it all. Nate McMillan highlighted his teams ability to grind it out:

“Resilience, that’s what we showed tonight. That’s one of the better teams in the conference. We knew they were going to be a team that scrapped, and our guys came and they fought. They kept their composure throughout the game, despite losing the lead, and stayed with it.” – Nate McMillan

After Lowry brought the team all the way back he needed a breather, and that’s where Terence Davis II stepped into things. 0-5 from downtown to that point in the fourth quarter, he would string together two makes from downtown to help the Raptors stretch their legs with the lead (for a time) showing an uncanny ability to shake off his failures, for a rookie, and once again having a sense for the moment.

In between Davis’ shot-making, VanVleet was treating the game like a track meet without Lowry in it. Even if it meant that he was attacking 1-on-3, he was getting the ball up the floor, hoping that a lane would open up, or forcing the issue and rumbling to the rim. And when Lowry came back in the Raptors were desperately trying to hold on to the lead. The Raptors had mixed their man and zone coverage pretty effectively for a large part of the game, but with basketball being a game of runs it was clear to see the Pacers were poised to make one. The defense that had vexed them for long stretches was suddenly susceptible to dribble penetration. The Pacers shooters were shaping up off of that penetration and they hit some jumpers down the stretch to send this thing into overtime.

Lowry came up short after taking the largest step-back he could muster and firing away over the outstretched arms of Jeremy Lamb (who’s no stranger to wild late game heroics). There was a sense that the Raptors needed that to drop to take this one. Lowry had pushed them forward and he was about to eclipse 40 minutes played for the second night in a row. They needed to build on the lead that he stole away for them, but alas, that didn’t happen.

The disparity in shot quality was staggering in overtime as the Raptors leaned on Lowry even harder, asking him to find the unique angles and passes necessary to beat an unmoving Pacers defense. Meanwhile on the other end the Pacers were succeeding in some of the staples of NBA offense. Run the pick n’ roll, get the guy who’s tagging the roll man to drop too deep, find the shooter, hit the shot. The Raptors eventually went down 119-115 after a flurry of threes from the Pacers, and Nick Nurse drew up a beautiful hammer play that sent Lowry to the left corner for a wide-open triple – a staple of Nurse’s playbook at this point – but he missed. That pretty much did it for the Raptors, and they fell to the Pacers. But, before that Lowry let a fan know he had a big ol’ championship ring waiting for him in the locker room. Good stuff.

Have a blessed day.