Indiana Pacers hang on late against Toronto Raptors, enter All-Star break with a win
The Indiana Pacers were in Toronto to take on the Raptors on Wednesday night. It was the third and final game of a road trip for the Pacers, who were 1-1 on the trek so far.
It was also the final game before the All-Star break for both teams. They each needed the mid-season gap — both Indiana and Toronto suffered ugly losses on Monday night, so getting through this game with a quality result was important.
The Raptors offense was strong early. They scored nine points in about 100 seconds to get the action rolling. There were many emotions surrounding the game with Pascal Siakam returning to Toronto for the first time, and the Raptors were playing well in that environment early.
Indiana did well to stick around, though, as they trailed 11-8 after 3.5 minutes. They were getting good looks at the rim, but they couldn't get enough stops.
Toronto went on a 5-0 run after that moment, though, and doubled up the Pacers score at 16-8. The blue and gold were taking the ball out of the net constantly. Head coach Rick Carlisle took a timeout at that moment to regroup.
It helped somewhat. Over the next few minutes, the Pacers cut the lead down to five after making a pair of three pointers. Their energy level was much better, though they needed to maintain some defensive presence if they were going to have a chance to win.
The improved level of play from the blue and gold led to a 9-0 run, and that prompted a timeout from Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. The cushion they created at the beginning of the game was almost gone. Tyrese Haliburton was heating up for the Pacers.
Not long after, the Pacers tied the game at 24. Their bad start was a thing of the past, but they needed to keep up their success. Their inconsistent play recently has been a big story, and they hoped to avoid it this time.
They didn't. Toronto went on a 6-0 run just after knotting up the score, showing once again that Indiana was going to be in for a long night unless they had consistent focus.
After one quarter, the Pacers trailed 35-31. They were hot from deep at 7/13 but needed to find other solutions to stay in the game. Haliburton led the team with 10 points.
The Raptors held a similar lead for the early parts of the second quarter. The game got uglier around this time — shots stopped falling and there were more turnovers. Neither group was getting good play from their second unit.
Former Pacer Bruce Brown, who was involved in the trade that sent Siakam to Indiana, was playing well and had 10 points in the middle of the second quarter. He pushed the Raptors lead to six with 7:30 left in the half, which was followed by an Indiana timeout.
Not long after the stoppage, Toronto's edge reached 10. The Pacers were playing terrible defense. They weren't going to have a chance at victory without getting some stops, which they weren't doing at all at the time.
Indiana answered well to cut into their big deficit. Several starters came back in, and they dented the advantage down to three with a 7-0 run. It was a needed surge after an awful stretch in the middle of the quarter.
The Pacers got the lead down as low as one, but the Raptors once again had an answer and were quickly up seven again. That was a theme in the first half. Indiana's comeback efforts weren't enough.
Their poor play continued, and the Toronto advantage reached 10. They were crushing the Pacers on the glass, which was the difference.
At halftime, the Raptors were ahead 71-65. They were winning the rebounding battle 30-18 at the time and were up 46-28 in points in the paint. The Pacers needed to balance those numbers. Haliburton had 14 points and five assists at the break.
The second half started fine for the Pacers as they kept it close, but they were hit with terrible injury luck as Aaron Nesmith went down holding his lower right leg. He was helped off the floor and replaced by Doug McDermott.
Amazingly, the Pacers were able to tie the game up at 75 a few possessions later. Indiana had a problem in the first half where they gave up runs after getting the game close, so they needed to keep attacking.
Siakam scored on the blue and gold's next possession, and his team had their first lead of the game. It was a dream start to the second half for the Pacers outside of Nesmith's injury. They were playing well.
The two teams traded the lead for the next few possessions, and the Raptors were ahead by one with five minutes left in the third quarter. Oscar Tshiebwe was in at center for Indiana — it was the first rotation minutes of his career.
Toronto's lead reached four moments later. The Pacers needed to re-focus. They were in the midst of a 0-6 run.
Indiana closed the third quarter with a 5-0 swing, and they were down 103-101 entering the final period. Obi Toppin was excellent for the Pacers in the last moments of the third frame. Siakam and Haliburton each had 16 points for the blue and gold at the time.
To get the fourth quarter going, the two teams traded buckets for just over three minutes. Nobody could get any momentum, but the Raptors lead entering the frame still loomed large. After 3.5 minutes of action in the period, they still had a two-point advantage.
The Pacers had a few chances to tie the game or take the lead throughout the final period, but they were unable to take advantage for the first half of the quarter. They still trailed with about six minutes to go, but the game was close. It was 115-114 Raptors at the time.
With 5:44 to go in the game, Andrew Nembhard hit a free throw to tie the game at 115. The final 344 seconds were going to decide this game.
37 seconds later, Ben Sheppard hit a three-point shot — his second of the final frame — and it gave Indiana a one-point advantage. They were scoring well late, but needed to keep that up if they were going to win.
Indiana was still ahead when the clock showed that there were two minutes to go. It was 124-121 at the time. But it was a weak lead. The Raptors were still playing with energy.
That same edge remained with 1:12 to go when the Raptors took a timeout. The game was wild for a few possessions, and both teams needed to talk it over. There was no control from either group.
Scottie Barnes scored to cut into the lead with one minute to go, but Siakam had an answer for the Pacers on the other end to keep the Pacers up by three inside the final minute. It was a wild sequence. The Raptors took a timeout down by three with 21 seconds to go.
Jakob Poeltl hit two foul shots for the Raptors, and Isaiah Jackson answered with one for Indiana. With 10 seconds left, it was 127-125 in favor of the Pacers, and the Raptors had the ball.
The Pacers held on defense thanks to great individual work from Sheppard. They won by two to improve to 31-25.
Siakam had 23 points and seven assists. Haliburton had 21 points and 12 dimes. Several players stepped up for Indiana in the win.
They don't play for eight days with the All-Star break now here.
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