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.
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.
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.