The Indiana Pacers took advantage of the Toronto Raptors historically poor Game 1 performances to steal a game on the road to open their first round playoff series before losing Game 2. They now head home for a pair of games with the series tied 1-1.
Game 1 recap: The Raptors are now 1-8 all-time in Game 1s of the NBA Playoffs. The Pacers read the last report from The Lottery Mafia regarding their projected performance and used it as bulletin board material, clearly. The Pacers did it the hard way, by getting a monster performance from Paul George. George took care of business on both ends of the floor, scoring 33 points with six assists on the offensive end while adding four steals and two blocks on the defensive end of the court. Make no mistake, George was the star of the show in Game 1.
The Pacers also had a fun wrinkle of going “small” by playing Myles Turner big minutes while the Indiana centers, Ian Mahinmi and Jordan Hill, combined to play just 22 minutes. Solomon Hill had a great game off the bench, scoring 13 points in 26 minutes of playing time.
Game 2 recap: In the second game of the series, the Pacers failed to match their good luck and strong performance from Game 1. Indiana got another strong performance from George who scored 28 points, but didn’t have the monster defensive game he had a couple days earlier managing just one steal and no blocks. He also only had one assist.
The Good: George wasn’t the only Pacer to have a down game, but Monta Ellis was among the players showing consistency, scoring 15 points in consecutive games along with similar assist and steal numbers without creating an excessive number of shot attempts to get his points. Turner has been a joy to watch in this series, even when he can’t handle players like Jonas Valanciunas. He was hitting some long-range 2-point attempts and didn’t get stuck loafing about the court. When a play broke down or he moved the ball to its next destination, you saw his recognition kick in and he moves into open space. Very encouraging look for the rookie.
The Bad: Speaking of Valanciunas, what a monster game he had for the Raptors. It took him less than nine minutes to amass 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks in Game 2. JV finished the game with 23 points and 15 rebounds. While DeMar Derozan has mostly been quiet by his standards, thanks largely to some focused attention from George, Lowry bounced back from a rough Game 1 to help lead this team to victory. His shooting was still off, shooting 4-of-13 from the field, but he was 10-for-10 at the free throw line and added nine assists.
Looking forward: The frustrating thing for Indiana moving forward is going to be good job they are doing on the Raptors. DeMarre Carroll is just getting back into playing form after a long layoff from injury, but he isn’t bringing much to the table, he was -12 on the night. The DeRozan and Lowry combination has also struggled against the Pacers, shooting a combined 9-of-31 in their Game 2 win.
George has been carrying the Indiana offense, but they will need him to do even more if they want to get back to winning ways. In their win, the steals and blocks were huge, along with the assist numbers, those things disappeared in between games. They also can’t afford to allow the Raptors Cory Joseph and Patrick Patterson to come off the bench and go for a combined 30 points. And they’ll need to get that scoring kick from the bench swinging back in their favor. The only Pacers in double digit scoring in Game 2 were Ellis and George, who scored 15 and 28 respectively. The next closest Indiana player in scoring – Myles Turner with eight points.
While the Pacers can’t be expected to win this series, they have already stolen a game on the road. If they can manage at least a split in their upcoming home games, they have a real shot at pushing this series to a Game 7. That would be a huge win for a team that is outgunned when standing toe-to-toe with Toronto. The Raptors needed to respond in Game 2, now it will be up to Indiana to hold serve on their home court.
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