DeMar Derozan and the Toronto Raptors were staring at 13-point deficit entering the final period.
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The free-throw shooting percentage of Biyombo on the night, who converted all four of his attempts, including two in the fourth. IN scored only nine points in the entire fourth quarter, and seven of those came in the final two minutes of the game. He finished with a team-high plus-16, and helped the Raptors shut down Paul George in the decisive fourth quarter.
Toronto now just has to win one of the next two games to advance to the second round for the first time since 2001.
Game 6 will be played on Thursday at TD Garden in Boston.
Early in the first quarter, DeRozan scored six straight points as Toronto went on an 11-0 run, cutting Indiana’s lead to six. “We can’t go and get ambushed”.
DeMar DeRozan led the way with 34 for the Raptors, who had to overcome a quiet game from Kyle Lowry. The team’s “global ambassador” was courtside to see the Game 5 win, then took a shot at Pacers star Paul George after the game in a since-deleted Instagram post. “It’s all about patience, you can’t get flustered, you can’t get frustrated, you’ve got to stay the course and that’s what we’re going to continue to do”. Here are five reasons the Pacers have looked better than most of us ever expected.Dwane Casey knows exactly what he wants from his team, what he believes will get this team out of the first round to get that proverbial monkey off their backs. But there is little doubting how valuable PG13 has been in the postseason for Indiana. Despite being favorites for the third year running, they were once again found with their backs against the wall in last night’s Game 5. Lowry crafts this by driving to the hoop and making Indy pay for double-teaming him by dishing off.
At a pivotal moment in the game with just over seven minutes left, Rodney Stuckey fell to Drake’s feet and quickly got up holding the ball.
Luck or not, the Raptors are one game away from erasing 15 years of playoff futility.
Despite the disappointing result in Game 5, the Pacers remain confident about their prospects in the series. Now it’s on us to come back and get Game 6.
The Raptors need to come out of the gates strong in order to win Game 6.
But their luck ran out on Tuesday as Atlanta cut loose in the second and third quarters to leave Boston scrambling to recover. Game five was where we saw the DeRozan of old return. Most importantly for the Hawks, they were 14-of-36 from three, hitting 38.9 percent after shooting 28 percent through the first four games. Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 11 points. But Lowry leaps into the pack and tips the rebound backward to DeRozan, who freezes it. “It may not show with the points or the stat sheet”, DeRozan said.
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One more time: The Pacers were this close to sending the Raptors to overtime. Toronto would threaten to draw the game within single figures throughout the second half, but the Pacers defense would come up with key stops and timely turnovers to keep their own floundering offensive afloat.
