He did have seven assists, but six turnovers as well. The playoffs would be no exception.
Advertisement
IN will also look to continue its solid 3-point shooting after it had gone just 16 for 55 (29.1 percent) in the last two regular-season matchups.
ABOUT THE PACERS (45-37): IN needs to find some complimentary scoring if George again gets bottled up by the Raptors.
On the winning side, George’s turnaround in the second half was the story of the game.
George said he watched video at halftime, trying to come up with a better approach. George would either score or assist on the Pacers next five scores over the next three minutes.
The Raptors also reject the notion that there is any carryover effect from their recent playoff failures. Unfortunately, Valanciunas couldn’t stay out of foul trouble throughout the course of the game, and with the Raptors trailing by 10 late in the fourth quarter, fouled out.
“We made adjustments, we blitzed him, switched, we did everything so somebody watching the game and saying we didn’t do different things with Paul George wasn’t watching the game”.
Paul George poured in 33 points to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 100-90 win over the Raptors in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series on Saturday. Dallas scored its fewest points ever in a playoff game. George scored 17 points in the third frame while going 6-7 from the field. Toronto Raptors’ Patrick Patterson (54) defends as Indiana Pacers’ Paul George (13) drives to the net during the first half in Game 1 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs in Toronto, Saturday, April… Isaiah Thomas, after a sluggish start, led the Celtics with 27 points, including a long three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left that at least created a bit of suspense. The pair went 1 for 10 from 3-point range and 8 for 15 at the free-throw line. There’s no reason to give up just because we lost the first game. However, he managed to recover in the second half where he shot 10-of-13 from the field.
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry took seven attempts from beyond the arc- some of which were open – but the 38.8% 3-point shooter couldn’t even get his easy ones to fall. “We understand they were going to come out, play aggressive”. DeRozan cobbled together 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting and nearly never looked comfortable. Same scenario, DeRozan and Lowry didn’t show up.
Advertisement
The Toronto Raptors were hoping to put an end to their post-season woes. It’s happened now for three straight years, and it’s happened every time the Raptors have been in the first playoffs – at home or on the road. It goes without saying that Raptors head coach Dwane Casey may experiment and have DeMarre Carroll guard George in an attempt to prevent George from having himself another night. Despite the down play from DeRozan and Lowry, other players stepped up in their absence. His 12 points and 19 rebounds were huge, as he had a near double-double in the first quarter with eight points and nine rebounds. Cory Joseph led the team in scoring with 18 points on five of six shooting off the bench while Jonas Valanciunas added 12 points and 19 rebounds before fouling out after just 21 minutes, but the Raptors simply needed much more from their starting backcourt duo who were great throughout most of the regular season.
