The Toronto Raptors gave the Indiana Pacers the business tonight, winning 101-85 and sending Indy fans home early. We got some let’s go Raptors chants dominating the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, a solid game from DeMar DeRozan, and a dominating overall performance that has the Raps leading the series 2-1.
The Raps controlled the pace for the majority of the game, and never let the Pacers within single digits after the 11 minute mark of the 2nd quarter. This was exactly what should have happened in this series starting game 1 – the Raptors are a better, and deeper team. They finally showed it.
Let’s get to the report card:
Offense: B-
The team shot 41.5% from the field, 31.2% from three, and 81.2% from the FT line. Not impressive numbers, but the Raps finished with 101 points by the end of the game.
DeRozan started the game off quite well, but finished shooting 7-19. He did have 21 points and went 7-9 from the line, which is very important for his confidence. Kyle Lowry was absolutely brilliant once again, also scoring 21 points off 8-21 shooting. He also had 8 assists and just penetrated the Indiana defense at will.
And how about DeMarre Carroll having a game? With Jonas Valanciunas being double (and even triple teamed) at times, someone else had to step up. Carroll had 3 three point shots and finished the game with 17 points. With JV disengaged and the bench having a relatively quiet game, someone had to step up and Carroll hit some big shots. Cory Joseph was the only other Raptor in double digits, scoring 10 points off 5-10 shooting.
Defense: A+
A++ for the Raptors defense tonight. What an effort. To put things in perspective, the Raps had 94 shots attempted, while the Pacers only got 68. This came from forced turnovers, good rebounding, and great hustle. The Pacers were frustrated, and finished with 3 technical fouls.
Carroll really gave Paul George a hard time tonight – it was awesome to see. He guarded George most of the night (Carroll got 35 minutes in), limiting George to 6-19 shooting. Paul George still finished with 25 points, but it was not an efficient or positive performance at all for him.
Myles Turner was the only real effective Pacer offensively, scoring 17 on 7-12 shooting. Valanciunas and Biyombo both picked up a bunch of fouls, forcing them to play a bit more conservative than they usually would at times. Ultimately, the Raptors defensive unit as a whole was on tonight.
Rebounding: A
The Raps won the battle of the boards again by a score of 45-38. Valanciunas had 14, Biyombo had 8, and Carroll had 5.
The Pacers’ bigs were getting manhandled by both of the Raptors’ bigs. The crazy thing is that they were fouling JV and Biz very regularly, and would get called quite infrequently. The Raptors bigs are just light years ahead on the glass. To put things in perspective, the only Pacer with double digits on the glass was Paul George, with 10.
A bit ridiculous that JV is getting held down every possession and when it's called once fans and Vogel go berserk.
— Raptors Cage (@RaptorsCage) April 22, 2016
Game Ball: DeMarre Carroll
What a sight. After being basically non-existent offensively, Carroll came back and impacted the game on both ends significantly. He played lockdown defense on George, hit some timely threes, and had great energy throughout the night. Kyle Lowry could have easily taken the game ball, but Carroll really brought it tonight. That should have Raptors fans excited.
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