Raptors Cage

Game Day Preview: Raptors meet Pacers to tip off Eastern road trip

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Having dispatched the Philadelphia 76ers and going 4-2 on a 6 game home stand, the Toronto Raptors will fly out to face the Indiana Pacers in the first of three key Eastern conference away games. The Raptors will play the second of a back to back in Indiana before meeting the Charlotte Bobcats and Miami Heat on a road trip in which they will face teams all looking like playoff candidates.

The Paul George led Pacers are starting to take shape, holding a 13-9 record while the Raptors are hoping to make it 5 wins in a row, as they used a strong home stand to now sit a close second in the conference standings. The two teams met on opening night as the Raptors were able to come from behind and take a 7 point 106-99 win. Indiana’s recent results have brought mixed fortunes. They were taken down by the surprising Detroit Pistons however came out out on top against the Miami Heat and earlier this month found themselves on a 6 game win streak that included victories against the LA Clippers, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls.

Probable Starters for Indiana: G.Hill, P.George, M. Ellis, C.J Miles, I. Mahimi

Raptors: D. DeRozan, K. Lowry, T.Ross, L. Scola, B. Biyombo

Luis Scola will meet his former team
Luis Scola will meet his former team

This road trip will allow the Raptors to see where they are amongst fellow Eastern contenders and gives them a chance to establish the number 2 spot on the table as well as maintain pressure on the conference topping Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto has won the past 5 regular season match ups between the two sides while Raptors starting forward Luis Scola played for the Pacers last season before Toronto picked him up in the off season.

Cage’s Keys to the game.

Shut Down Paul George

Easier said than done but the key to the Pacers success this season has been Paul George. The 6″9 Small Forward is their top scorer averaging 27 points per game. When the Pacers went down against the Detroit Pistons George was held to just 13 points as he went 4-16 on an off night. With DeMarre Caroll out of the line up it will most likely be Terrence Ross or DeMar DeRozan to take the game’s most important assignment. George has been the big reason for Indiana’s improvement this year after he was injured for much of last season.

Utilize rotations

Against the San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Dwane Casey used an 8 man rotation. In last night’s game against Philadelphia it was extended to 11. With injuries across the team and this being the second game night in a row, it seems logical that the Raptors get use out of the end of bench players in order to maintain the fitness of the starters, for both this game and the road trip as a whole. Lucas ‘Bebe’ Nogueira should see more minutes after he returned from a sprained ankle and the main bench players like Corey Joseph and Patrick Patterson will also be important.

Continue the defensive effort

In the past four games the Raptors have given up an average of just 86.5 points. Defence has been a strong point for the Raptors all season and away to a strong but inconsistent Pacers team who rank 7th in the league for points per game, averaging just over 100 (103.5 to be exact) this will no doubt be a key area. If the Pacers main strength is contained the Raptors can take that advantage and ride it to another W.

X-Factor: Terrence Ross

Starting again in the continued absence of Carroll and expected to take the defensive role on Paul George, it looks like yet another chance for T-Ross to show his worth on the contract extension he was given earlier this season. He had a big game against the Lakers but has had mixed results since with the most recent Philadelphia game being one to forget as he went 0-6 from the field and came up with a goose egg on the night. Raptors fans no doubt hope he can bounce back and come through in a far more testing game than one night prior.

 

 

 

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