The Indiana Pacers evened their National Basketball Association playoff series with the Toronto Raptors at 2-2 thanks to a 100-83 Win Saturday. Hobbled by back pain throughout the first three games of the series, Mahinmi notched a career-high 22 points, 10 rebounds a block and five assists as the Pacers locked the series up a 2-2. With the series tied at two a piece, and both teams snagging wins at home and in the other teams arena, this boils down to a three game series, with two of the games happening in Toronto (assuming there is a game seven). It is hard to explain just how out of character this was, so let the numbers do it: In his previous 52 playoff games, his career bests were 10 points, seven rebounds, and one assist.
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Hill, who went to high school and college in Indianapolis, for years has heard the criticism about not being the point guard to lead the Pacers.
The Pacers are using Paul George to defend DeRozan and George Hill to slow down Lowry.
The Kyle Lowry-Demar DeRozan combo struggled from the field.
They used a 14-4 run to extend the lead to 53-28 with 3:26 left in the half, forced as many turnovers in the first 20 minutes as they had in all of Game 3 and won easily on a night George was 6 of 16 from the field. Even without the recent tale of Toronto’s first round disappointments, the Pacers have more than enough to at the very least keep things competitive in a gym that will in no way resemble the quarter-strong Raptor contingent present in Game 4 on Saturday. Tip off has yet to be announced. With the best-of-seven series a best-of-three now that things are tied at two games apiece, there will be adjustments from both teams moving forward, but things won’t suddenly be drastically different.
Heat: After making 5 of 7 3-pointers to start the game, Miami made just 1 of its next 13 attempts.
“Obviously, he can’t be out there with us”, said Dwyane Wade.
The Raptors didn’t remotely resemble the squad we saw in Game 3 in the first half. Despite being the star of this team and sometimes falling into the trap of doing too much on his own, he’s quite experienced in the playoffs with two Conference Finals behind him as a leading player.
“If they’re not calling those plays, we’ve got to adjust and play that way”. Mahinmi’s 22 points came out of nowhere as he totaled only 13 points in the first three games in the series. With rotation changes pushing Turner into the starting lineup, shortening the overall rotation by cutting Allen’s minutes, it was a victory for Indiana’s bench, who got huge contributions from Ty Lawson and Solomon Hill especially.
After a attractive first half, the Pacers found themselves in a slugfest with the Raptors.
“When I’m on the court I’m nobody’s friend besides the guys in the locker room”, George said.
The Raptors will be disappointed with their performance late in Game 4 but they’ll have to regroup in a hurry to avoid falling behind in this series.
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The Pacers blew the game open again in the fourth quarter. After two first round exits over the last two years, Toronto will be feeling the pressure, especially with DeRozan and Kyle Lowry having combined to shoot 31 percent through the first four games. After Mahinmi made the second of two free throws with 5:03 to go, Valanciunas shoved George underneath the basket.
