Toronto Raptors versus Indiana Pacers 95-82
In a surprising turn of events yesterday night, the Toronto Raptors managed to take down the Indiana Pacers 95-82 to get back on track and reach .500 PCT. Toronto has been on a roll recently and taking down the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference shows that they have what it takes for a deep run in the playoffs. There is still however a lot to go but the Raptors are looking good to finish as leaders in the Atlantic Division, now with two wins ahead of the Boston Celtics.
Despite the win against the strong opponent, Raptors coach Dwane Casey stated that his team still has plenty of room for improvement and that they will continue to get better.
DeMar DeRozan got 26 points for Toronto on Wednesday, 10 of which were in the fourth quarter, to extend the Raptors winning streak to four games – the best this season. The loss ended a five-game streak for the Pacers and they remain the leaders in the Eastern, with just one win ahead of the Miami Heat.
Terrence Ross got another 18 points to help secure the win for the Raptors, which are now 15-15. Guard Kyle Lowry added 13 points and had a season-best 14 assists.
After the game, the Pacers coach said that the Raptors deserved the win and that they played the better game. Toronto got 32 points from the 22 turnovers and made all but three free throws of the 23 they got yesterday.
Roy Hibbert
One of the major factors was center Roy Hibbert only playing 21 minutes for Indiana, before he was out for fouling in the fourth. He got 16 points in but his absence from the court was quickly noticed as the defense could not hold up against the relentless Raptors. Paul George got 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Danny Granger scored 11 after coming off the bench to give Indiana a shot, but it was not enough.
The fourth quarter was fairly close as Toronto got a three-point lead early but Indiana took control and was ahead by one point before Hibbert had his 5th foul and was sent to the bench with 10:32 remaining on the clock. Greivis Vasquez then got a 3-pointer to give Toronto the lead once again and the Raptors continued to push their lead to six points. DeRozan got 2 free throws with a bit over 5 minutes remaining and then a great jumper one minute later to secure a 84-75 lead against Indiana.
The story continued into the final few minutes of the match and while the Pacers tried to get back in the lead, the Raptors took off and didn’t look back to finish with a 13-point lead.
This was the first time in franchise history that the Toronto Raptors played on New Year’s Day at home and it turned out to be a great win against arguably the toughest opponent they will face in the Eastern Conference.
Raptors-Wizards and Pacers-Pelicans
The Raptors will now travel to Washington to play the Wizards on Friday. The game should be fairly close and the 14-15 Washington will have the home advantage which should give them enough traction against the motivated Toronto Raptors after the win on Wednesday.
The Indiana Pacers will try to get back on track and improve the best NBA home record of 15-1 on Saturday, when they will host the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans hasn’t had a good season so far and is 14-16 for fourth place in one of the toughest divisions in the league and not likely to improve against the Pacers.
