Grades: Indiana Pacers Squander Jurassic Opportunity in Toronto
The Indiana Pacers could not capitalize on the Toronto Raptors being shorthanded and fell in a game that never quite went their way.
The Toronto Raptors were the Number Two seed in the Eastern Conference going into their matchup with the Indiana Pacers tonight. It’s no secret that they have had a fantastic season to this point. However, it seemed like the Pacers might have had a stroke of luck going into this game when it was announced that Toronto’s superstar wing, Kawhi Leonard, would be held out of tonight’s matchup.
The Pacers themselves were without their budding defensive monster, Myles Turner, but with Toronto’s starting center Jonas Valanciunas also being out, it definitely seemed like the injuries was a bigger issue for the Raptors, especially with the depth the Pacers have at center. In the end, the Raptors dug deep on the second night of a back-to-back and sent the Pacers back to the States with a disappointing loss.
105. 100. 121. 81. Final
Raptors bench made the difference
Despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Raptors got a major boost from their bench in this contest. Last night against Milwaukee, the Toronto reserves scored a dismal 5 points. Tonight was a completely different story as their bench put up an absurd 49 points compared to Indiana’s 27. Typically, you can count on the depth of the Pacers to keep the team afloat as the starters get some rest, but not tonight.
Myles Turner is pretty important, Y’all
The Raptors were getting whatever looks they wanted for most of the game, whether it was in the paint or behind the three-point arc. With Myles Turner being out with a sore shoulder, the interior defense of the Pacers was much less threatening, to say the least. Indiana looked out of sorts the entire night defensively, particularly in the first half in which they gave up 70 (!!!) points to the Raptors. The second half wasn’t quite as bad, but it was too little, too late. Myles was sorely missed in this one.
Pacers got buried from deep
Honestly, the stats from this game look pretty similar between these two teams in a lot of areas. Total made shots, free throws, rebounds, steals, turnovers, points off turnovers, and blocks were all close enough for a 16 point loss to feel a little weird. That is, of course, if you completely ignore what happened behind the three-point line. The Raptors hit 17 threes compared to Indiana’s 4. This wasn’t a total shocker, because at this point we all understand that the Pacers aren’t a team that’s going to shoot 30+ threes per game. However, when you aren’t beating your opponent in other areas of the game (or playing any sort of even half-way decent defense), a three-point differential like that is almost impossible to overcome.
Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON. B+. A pretty solid game from DC in this one. He hit a couple of nice layups in traffic, took care of the ball, and had some beautiful assists. He mostly kept Kyle Lowry in check, too.. PG
After a slow first quarter, Vic started to pick up some steam and poured in a nice chunk of points in the second quarter. And that was about it for the night. He was very ineffective down the stretch in this one and finished with a team-low -15 plus/minus, missing every shot from deep and not really adding much anywhere else, aside from a few defensive possessions where he upped the pressure a bit. We’ll need more from Dipo going forward.. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO. C-
Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC. A-. Bogey dropped 12 points in the first quarter and finished with a team-high 21. He also had 9 boards and a couple of steals. This game marked 30 straight contests in which Bojan has scored in double figures, dating back to November 2nd. He continues to be the most consistent option on offense.. SF
B+. Well, what do you know? Another solid night from Thad, who started out pretty quiet, but ended with a helpful 14/9 plus 3 steals. He had some nice tip-ins on offense and was definitely one of the few bright spots defensively tonight.. PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG
B+. Domas got the start at center with Myles being out tonight. He held his own and clearly has good offensive chemistry with the other starters. He always knows where to be on offense, which lead to several big dunks in this one. He was on a triple-double watch at halftime, and while it didn’t actually happen, it showed that Sabonis can be an excellent facilitator when he needs to be. Domas shot under 50%, which is unusual for him and picked up a couple of bad fouls, but he was good overall.. C. Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS
SG. Indiana Pacers. TYREKE EVANS. D+. Tyreke looked lost in the first half and had a dismal stat line of 1/0/0 at the intermission. That’s not what you like to see from the guy that was supposed to be your scorer off the bench. He did finish with the “best” plus/minus on the team tonight but really did not add much of anything at all in this one. Aaron Holiday should start to get more run if Tyreke performs like this a couple more times in the near future.
B-. A solid enough Cory game, although he did not shoot well tonight. As per usual, he was active on defense and made mostly good decisions, aside from a couple questionable shot choices.. PG. Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH
C, I Guess?. Doug shot 100% in this game! Unfortunately, he was only 1 for 1. He didn’t get any looks at all in the first half. To justify the contract the Pacers gave McDermott in the offseason, they’re going to have to figure out how to get him more involved, starting with maybe, just <em>maybe</em>, passing him the ball every once in a while.. SF. Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT
B+. The best third-string center in the NBA saw plenty of action tonight with Turner being sidelined. KOQ finished with a very good 9/7/3/4 stat line (with the latter being a team-leading 4 blocks). He got yanked from the court in the second quarter when he put up a questionable three-pointer, but he hit some nice jumpers otherwise and did a great job filling in as the bench center.. C. Indiana Pacers. KYLE O'QUINN
G. Garbage time minutes for Teej, but he hit a shot. Good to see him out there.. PF. Indiana Pacers. TJ LEAF
G. Just garbage time for Aaron tonight as well, but he’ll get his chances someday.. PG. Indiana Pacers. AARON HOLIDAY
Next. The Indiana Pacers don’t always play close games, but when they do, Victor Oladipo delivers. dark
Up next, the Pacers take on the floundering Cavaliers (who beat them last month somehow) in Cleveland at 7 PM on Tuesday night. They’ll look to bounce back from the loss tonight and get another winning streak rolling.