Quick Reaction: Pacers 127, Raptors 125

RJ has been the level of consistency that the team needs, he matched Scottie’s energy and pushed the pace, taking it straight to the paint. RJ finished off the first quarter with an impressive 12 points. I said this last time as well, but as much as RJ’s driving is great, it can lead to tunnel vision moments and careless turnovers. Other than that, just a great game overall for RJ, showed up when we needed him and grabbed clutch boards.

Scottie came out with great energy today, completely different than what he was looking like against the Spurs. Taking it right at Siakam, playing aggressively, making the right play, and pushing the pace. It’s great to see this response from Scottie after the last game, just taking the criticism on the chin and responding with improved play on the court. He took the lead in the clutch and made the right plays when needed too. There was a missed foul, but instead of complaining and hurting the team defensively, he kept pushing. This is progress and growth, so let’s try not to overreact when he has one bad game.

Jakob was everywhere tonight and doing all the right things. Cutting backdoor, getting into the right positions, fighting for the boards, and not giving up on defence. This is the type of energy we need from Jakob every night. Even the moments when he’s posting up and calling for the ball, that type of energy is fantastic. Jakob also came through in the fourth quarter with some huge offensive rebounds, helping the game stay within arm’s reach.

GTJ has been great for the Raptors lately, his defence had gone under the radar but it’s been impressive. He’s playing passing lanes, poking the ball loose when playing on-ball. It’s contributed heavily to the transition offence. He did struggle from beyond the arc today, but it does happen to all shooters from time to time.

Quickley struggled in the first half with his shot. However, I wasn’t too mad because he still was doing everything else. He had seven assists and seven rebounds, despite his three points. He did pick it up in the second half by driving to the basket and relying less on threes. I also feel like the chemistry between Scottie and IQ needs to be worked on a bit, a couple of times where they are just running into each other, IQ would get in Scottie’s way. Hopefully, as they play together more this is less of an issue.

The way Bruce was playing tonight was like he wanted revenge against the Pacers. Constantly cutting backdoor and creating some much-needed offence. He also helped create for others either running the pick and roll for Scottie or throwing out some assists.

Injury

Seeing Gradey just consistently develop has been fantastic. Now that his shots have been dropping, the other parts of his game have been highlighted. His motor, energy, defence and playmaking ability. Would’ve liked to see him out there in the closing minutes, but what can you do?

Hopefully, Ochai can see some more minutes going forward, he hit the one three he took tonight, which is promising.

Boucher checked in and it was like a bat out of hell. Hustling immediately, playing great defence, running for the boards and contributing to the offence. He was doing all the right things and this is exactly how good a motivated Boucher can be.

Don’t know exactly why Darko decided to sub Nwora in the fourth when he didn’t play the rest of the game and couldn’t establish a rhythm, just wasn’t a good overall look for Nwora today.

Couple of nitpicks with Darko tonight. Why was the team doubling off of Haliburton? Why play Nwora randomly in the fourth, when he didn’t play at all in the other quarters? Why not take a chance on Gradey in the clutch? Some of these decisions just didn’t make sense.