Full team effort allows Raptors to persevere over Pacers comeback attempt
The Raptors continued their trip down memory lane last night, this time taking on Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. This game being the second of three matchups against former Raptors and 2019 NBA champions this week.
In what originally seemed to be an uphill battle, with the Raptors only deploying ten active players and the Pacers winners of three straight, quickly turned into a bloodbath. The Raptors opened the game scorching hot from all areas of the court, not unlike the 76ers on Monday. Guys were making shots from all over. Murray-Boyles with two left handed layups. Scottie Barnes with a spinning middy. Brandon Ingram working Nesmith for a short corner jumper. Jamison Battle capping off an 11-2 run with a deep three from the left wing.
The offense was humming early, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the defense was even better. See, without a traditional center, the Raptors had much more freedom to switch. And switch they did. Guys were flying around the court, pressuring the ball, cutting off drives, intercepting passes and erasing shot attempts. The Pacers couldn’t get a good shot no matter what they tried.
The Raptors on the other hand, still couldn’t miss. Ingram shimmied his way to a couple more buckets. Ochai Agbaji hit two threes, his second multi-three game of the season. Gradey Dick, who has struggled immensely to start the year, was making shots too. He operated as a screener for Barnes, and shot the ball confidently. At one point it appeared as if he may take a between the legs step back three. Confidence at it’s peak.
Eventually, it was the ever so crafty TJ McConnell who loosened things up for Indiana. First by dancing on the edge of a knife, slicing down the baseline, miraculously staying inbounds before launching a pass to Jarace Walker in the corner as he fell to the ground. Then, by hitting his classic fading short corner jump shot. By the end of the quarter he had stemmed the flow ever so slightly, yet Toronto still led by 19.
Sensing an impending blowout, the Pacers rained threes down to open the second quarter. Johnny Furphy from deep. Quenton Jackson from the wing. Siakam piling on, again from the wing. The lead now down to 15. Siakam, relentless. A floater off a two foot stop. A step through finger roll. Regardless of how many points he scored it seemed they were making no ground. Like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill.
Toronto’s shot making was too much. This time it was AJ Lawson. Cutting baseline for the easy lay off the glass. Then catching a low pass off an Ingram drive and rising high to knock down the three. Dick then attempts two threes from deep on the left wing, both clanking off the side of the rim. Perhaps his confidence rose too high. Or perhaps not, as he then hit a short corner jumper off the roll, pump faking before cashing in. And then, a couple plays later, off Barnes being double teamed Dick found himself sinking a jumper from deep, an and-one. The lead hitting its peak at 27.
Barnes playmaking tonight can only be described as surgical, he found guys on the break and in the halfcourt with the finesse of the world’s best doctors. Dissecting Indiana’s defense like that one robot did to that grape. He fell just one assist shy of tying his career-high.
Siakam, not wanting to be outdone by his former team, started the second half ablaze. Drilling the corner three. A smooth pull up over Jamal Shead. Another corner three. Taking advantage of a scrambling defense for an easy layup. A couple free throws. Unfortunately, his scoring still had no impact. For every basket he scored, the Raptors responded. Ingram nailed a running jumper over Furphy. Then splashed a three of his own. Barnes backed down Nembhard, turning and firing a hook shot off the glass. Ingram driving, spinning, and flipping the ball over Furphy’s head and into the basket. Furphy was helpless against the prowess of Ingram.
By the end of the third quarter the Raptors still led by 16, while they showed moments of weakness, the lead was still commanding heading into the closing frame. It is worth noting that Jamison Battle exited the game in the third quarter with a left ankle sprain.
Battle’s absence is noteworthy because it declawed the Raptors offense against Indiana’s zone defense. Indiana fell back on their zone hard in the fourth quarter, and did so with great success. For a long stretch Toronto couldn’t buy a bucket. Barnes missed two free throws. Lawson clanked a three. Ingram bricked another. Eventually Barnes settled things with a dime to a cutting Dick, but the lead was down to 11.
Then Siakam, continuing his endless push up the hill, got an easy one to cut it to 9. A trip to the free throw line for both Nembhard and Furphy further sliced it to 6. Another missed layup for the Raptors. Nembhard then working his way through the paint, drifting to the left for the layup. Lead down to 4. Shead, thinking he was fouled, throws up a weak floater. A dumb shot. Luckily, Siakam airballs the three on the other end. And the Raptors going the other way get it to Shead on the wing, who doesn’t hesitate to fire away, dropping in the three to push the lead back to 7 with four and a half minutes to go.
It was then that the flood gates opened once again, drowning out any attempt at a comeback. Ingram sunk two more threes to put the game out of reach and then closed it out with one last jumper over Furphy for good measure.
For a team coming in with only ten active players (and only playing 9), the Raptors could have easily rolled over. Instead, they showed excellent poise and connectivity to start the game and when things looked bleak, they weathered the storm and made the shots that they needed to make.
Perseverance.
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