DeRozan shot 4-for-8 and scored nine points with George as his primary defender in Game 5, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
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DeMar DeRozan then stepped up to drain a 3-pointer to give the Raptors their first lead as Toronto held on for a pulsating win.
Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) celebrates his team’s victory over the Indiana Pacers with teammate Bismack Biyombo after NBA basketball playoff action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 26, 2016.
Jonas Valanciunas scored 11 and rookie Norman Powell had 10 for Toronto.
“I felt like my normal self”, said DeRozan, who started the game averaging just 13.3 points. “I tried to get the IN guys to draw IN, thinking I was going to go to the rim”, DeRozan said. “Seeing the guys get into it, seeing the crowd go insane, after that we went on another run”.
George bemoaned the Pacers failure to hang on for what would have been a potentially pivotal road victory. They tilted their defense towards George, making IN look elsewhere. Both times he took me out we were in the driver’s seat and looking comfortable, up 15, up 13 both times. Solomon Hill hit back-to-back 3-pointers late, but his second one to tie with the clock winding down was waved off after an official review.
Mike Scott came off the bench to score 17 points, leading five Hawks in double figures. He even had a little bit of help on offense this time, getting 14 points out of Myles Turner and 15 from George Hill, but that fourth-quarter collapse was everything in this game. “We didn’t make enough plays, that is what it came down to in the fourth quarter”, he said. And after the game, noted Toronto native and Raptors super-fan/’Global Ambassador’ Drake let George know all about it. “Do our jobs. I think it’s more just being anxious for the opportunity to be able to step up and win the game, to keep having another day to fight”.
“Once again, we failed to live up to that moment”, a dejected Paul George said after the game.
Vogel received heavy criticism from media and fans for playing the Pacers struggling second unit too long as big leads slipped away in the first and second half of Game 5.
Toronto had found themselves staring down the barrel of a home defeat after IN raced into a 90-77 lead IN the third quarter.
Instead, led by a pair of unlikely contributors, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed waged a furious rally to edge the Indiana Pacers 102-99 at the Air Canada Center. The sixth-year veteran led all players with 39 points, and added eight rebounds and eight assists.
Ultimately that run amounted to a 21-2 run and a 25-9 fourth quarter.
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DeRozan was the standout for Toronto, topscoring with 34 points while Kyle Lowry weighed in with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Even when he was starting to begin the series against the Indiana Pacers, it seemed unlikely. From a playoff statistical standpoint, the victor of Game 5’s in a best-of-seven series would go onto win 85 percent of the time.
