|
 A major player in the first two games of their first-round series
playoff series with the Indiana Pacers, however, has been center
Jonas Valanciunas, who has been a work in progress in recent
seasons.
Valanciunas led the Raptors with 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds
on Monday and the Raptors defeated the Pacers 98-87 to even the
series at one win each.
"I was really happy for Jonas," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "He
got in foul trouble on Saturday. He gave us what we wanted him to
give us. ...but again it was a team effort."
The victory ended a string of seven straight playoff losses by the
Raptors dating to the 2014 first round.
Valanciunas scored 12 points and nabbed 19 rebounds before fouling
out in Indiana's win in the first game.
"They just made more plays," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "Their
bench obviously had a strong impact. They dominated the paint and we
didn't get enough of an offensive rhythm in the second half, but
there were a lot of reasons."
 Paul George led the Pacers with 28 points. He scored 33 points to
lead the Pacers to the win in the opening game.
"(Valanciunas) has been huge, literally," George said. "We've been
doing a good job on DeMar and Kyle but a third guy has stepped up.
He's what has been giving us problems. We've got to figure it out."
"I'm just doing my stuff," Valanciunas said. "I'm going out there
and battling. ...Let's not get too excited. We still have to win
three more games. We have to go out with the same energy in Game 3."
The Raptors led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but the
Pacers trimmed that to four during the third quarter, which ended
with Toronto leading by eight.
The Raptors regained their 18-point lead in the fifth minute of the
fourth quarter and had the lead at 19 with less than five minutes to
play.
Lowry added 18 points and dished out nine assists. DeRozan continues
to struggle in the playoffs and did not play in the fourth quarter,
finishing with 10 points.
Lowry said it started with the defense.
"Our defense gets our offense going, it's been like that all
season," he said. "P.G. (George) has been phenomenal. He's going to
get his points. We just tried to keep throwing fresh bodies at him."
Cory Joseph contributed 16 points off the bench, and Patrick
Patterson chipped in with 14 points for Toronto.
[to top of second column] |
Monta Ellis added 15 points for Indiana.
The Raptors started DeMarre Carroll at forward instead of Norman
Powell. But Powell soon was in the game after Carroll picked up two
fouls in the first three minutes. Carroll finished with two points
and Powell scored three. Both played well defensively.
"DeMarre came in and gave us that spark defensively and got us
started," Casey said.
Toronto led 27-16 at the end of the first quarter with Valanciunas
leading the way with 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Raptors' lead climbed to 18 early in the second quarter.
The Pacers trimmed the lead to five when Ellis completed a
three-point play with a free throw with 4:41 to play in the half.
Toronto took a 53-48 lead into the intermission, as Valanciunas had
19 points and 10 rebounds in the first two quarters. George led
Indiana with 13 first-half points and Ellis scored 12.
Toronto reserve forward Terrence Ross was kept out of the second
half under concussion protocol. He had six points.
George cut the Toronto lead to four points on two free throws with
2:43 to play in the third quarter.
Joseph made two free throws to close out the third-quarter scoring
with Toronto leading 74-66.
Lowry made two free throws to bump Toronto's lead to 11 points with
10:11 left in the fourth quarter. He added two more foul shots less
than a minute later and the Raptors led by 13.
After a Pacers miss, the Raptors came back to score on a reverse
layup by Joseph to take a 15-point lead.
Bismack Biyombo increase the lead to 18 points when he followed his
dunk with a free throw.
Lowry made three free throws with 4:19 remaining to increase the
lead to 19 points.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
