After an abysmal effort from start to finish, the Toronto Raptors drop game 4 against the Indiana Pacers by a score of 100-83. The series is now tied up at 2-2, and we head back to Toronto for game 5.
From the very start, the Pacers demonstrated their desperation by going on a 7-0 run to start the game. Since then, the Raptors never really recovered, eventually going down as much as 25 trying to fight an uphill battle. There very few positives to pull away from this game. Jonas Valanciunas didn’t have the same involvement as the first 3 games – he led the Raptors with 16 points, but only got 7 shot attempts. The back-court was completely ineffective for the entirety of the game, with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combining for a 8-27. Food for thought…
After brutal Game 4, Raptors' Kyle Lowry & DeMar DeRozan both among worst postseason Brick-Layers of modern era… pic.twitter.com/GXk8JRBKGs
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 23, 2016
Throw this one into the trash can and hope for better in game 5, because it’s not looking good. There has to be some big adjustments next game, including a change to the starting lineup, because Luis Scola just doesn’t have it anymore. Also, more Norman Powell and possibly some significant time for Jason Thompson could be in order.
Offense: F
Awful, awful offence. There was a lack of movement and passing; really hard to digest why the coaching staff did not make adjustments based on the way the Pacers have defended in the past couple games. When it comes down to it, the Raptors have to put the ball in the bucket, and they didn’t do it tonight. 17 turnovers, only 12 assists, 37 per cent from the field, 27 per cent from the perimeter and nine missed free-throws — that’s the story of the game.
DeRozan was another huge reason why the Raptors lost the game. He made terrible decisions offensively, shot bricks and did not look like he wanted to play basketball this afternoon. After being more productive in the last game, there was hope his play would carry on into game 4. That was not the case.
Defense: C-
The Raptors’ defense wasn’t as terrible as their offence, but it was still bad. They struggled to keep Indiana in the half-court due to the amount of times they turned the ball over, leading to the Pacers getting transition baskets. The Raps did not protect the paint, nor did they defend the perimeter (more so at the beginning of the game, which buried them early). DeMarre Carroll looked pretty good tonight on Paul George, at least, with PG13 going 6-16.
Pacers in the restricted area…
G1: 13-for-29
G2: 8-for-16
G3: 13-for-26
G4: 23-for-36G4 points in the paint: 50-26
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) April 23, 2016
Rebounding: C-
The Raptors lost the overall rebounding battle 43-40. The story of the game was the Pacers’ dominance early into the game — offensive rebounding was one of the key cogs to their success. Ian Mahinmi and Myles Turner had their way early against Valanciunas and Scola… #StartThompson
Game Ball: Ian Mahinmi
Mahinmi was a beast tonight in the paint, a sight for sore eyes considering how dominant Valanciunas was against the Pacer bigs. 22 points was a playoff career-high for him and couldn’t have come at a much better time. Along with his career night in scoring, he added 10 rebounds to his stat-line.
