The Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors are locked in one of the more improbable first round matchups of the 2016 NBA Playoffs. The two sides have gone back and forth for the entire series – both teams have won on the road and neither team has held more than a one-game lead. That even or inconsistent play has led this series to the ultimate conclusion – Game 7.
When we last checked in, the Raptors and Pacers were playing inconsistent basketball that left no clear favorite. The tandem of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan was anything but dominant and Paul George was anchoring a Pacers squad that had no business hanging around, and yet they did.
And so they still do. The Pacers are one of the more improbable stories of the playoffs this season. It was a bit of a surprise that the Portland Trail Blazers played so well all season, but then we got used to them. Having the chance to close out the Los Angeles Clippers seemed unlikely, but that was before Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both experienced season-ending injuries in Game 4.
Game 5 recap: In a series that makes next to no sense, the Pacers continue to play like a seventh-seeded team. It’s more the play of the Raptors that is shocking. Unless, that is, you have watched Toronto in the playoffs at any time in their history, ever. In Game 5, they opted to start Patrick Patterson over Luis Scola and it didn’t do them any good. He was not particularly good by any measurement.
Meanwhile, the Pacers roared out to a huge lead, 35-20, after the first quarter. The issue for Indiana was head coach Frank Vogel inexplicably messing with his lineups in the fourth quarter. The team went through a thorough collapse, scoring just nine points in the final frame. The exclamation mark on the collapse was a 3-point make from Solomon Hill that was ruled to have left Hill’s hands 0.01 seconds too late, removing a game-tying basket from the scoreboard.
Game 6 recap: Momentum isn’t a fully measurable thing. It exists, but good luck quantifying it. If you tried to quantify it in this series, you’d be screwed. After finishing Game 5 with just nine points in the final 12 minutes, the Pacers fired into Game 6 by losing the first two quarters, led by the high-scorer Ian Mahinmi. Everything you need to know about your team in the playoffs: no matter what seed you are, Mahinmi should not be your high scoring player after two quarters.
After a hard-fought first half, the Raptors were in position to close out the series, with a 44-40 lead. The second half was utter chaos and that thing we might quantify as momentum was erratically spinning out of control. The Pacer blew open the second half, primarily on the strength of Paul George. But it was a great game from all Indiana starters, as they each scored 12 points or more. The Pacers blew it wide open and cruised to victory, forcing a Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday.
The good – Really, who thought that the Pacers really should get this far? Should? No one. The strong play of George keeps being the anchor of this Indiana team. The reason they won? The rest of the team pitched in on both ends of the floor.
The bad – This team is so inconsistent that you can’t even guess at how they will play game to game, you have to go quarter to quarter. There isn’t anything deeper here. Lucky for them, DeRozan and Lowry are equally shaky.
Look ahead – Chaos reigns. Both teams go on mini-runs that occasionally extended from one game to another. There is no reason to think that a seventh-seed can steal a Game 7 on the road, but can you bank against a team that just outscored their opponents 61-39 over the last 24 minutes of basketball? The Raptors absolutely must get a strong game from both DeRozan and Lowry. DeRozan lit up the Pacers for 34 points in an improbable comeback win in Game 5, but these two combined to shoot 7-for-27 in Game 6. The same mantra remains now as it did before the series began – George will get his, but what will we get from the Raptors backcourt?
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