The final 12 minutes belonged to Toronto.
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He was on the court for the entire fourth quarter of Toronto’s comeback win, setting vicious screens to open space for DeRozan, grabbing seven of his game-high 16 rebounds and punishing the Pacers on the glass despite being the lone Toronto big man on the floor.
“It’s all about patience, ” DeRozan said. “When you have a teammate willing to do that (be physical, get rebounds, set screens) you can’t ask for nothing greater than that”. “We gotta come out fighting, we know their backs are going to be against the wall”.
Bismack Biyombo had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the second-seeded Raptors, who can clinch the first seven-game playoff series victory in franchise history by beating the Pacers in IN on Friday night.
“It’s terrible to have had a chance to win on the road, go up 3-2, and come back home”.
Here, we dissect significant moments from that epic fourth quarter, in which Toronto outscored the Paul George-led Pacers 25-9.
DeMar Derozan and the Toronto Raptors were staring at 13-point deficit entering the final period.
“The opportunity is upon us and I think we just have to take advantage of it”, Lowry said. “I kind of lost it going up overthinking what I wanted to do, but I was able to finish the play”.
If they are ever going to shake their playoff demons, the fourth quarter of Game 5 could be the starting point. By the time DeRozan checked back in with five minutes left, the Raptors had tied it up. The Toronto Raptors are shooting 26.6 percent from beyond the arc and 78.5 percent from the free throw line.
For Pacers fans, this particular loss stings mostly because it could have been prevented had there been some adjustments made by both the players and Vogel during the course of the game.
“(George) looked pretty gassed at the end of the third, ” Vogel said.
“I always say scoring is not a problem with us and this series is not about scoring”.
“There were so many different dunks I was thinking about doing”, Powell said. They had a tough stretch there.
DeMar DeRozan gave the Raptors their first lead of the game, draining a three-pointer with 4:15 remaining and they never relented. It comes off a crafty pass from Joseph that puts the Raptors within two. Hill added 15 points.
IN had the ball under Toronto’s basket with 2.7 seconds left.
Indiana’s Solomon Hill’s shot from beyond the arc with the clock winding down, but the three-point attempt left his hand just after the buzzer sounded – and the Raptors had completed their comeback. The Raptors got back in the game before half due to the second quarter rest, and the momentum swung dramatically in the fourth quarter with George and Hill out. “We’re going to [get] some stops and then it was just a little gap, we were looking to find the energy, how can you push the other players to be on the same page with you?” Again there is double-counting because each player’s assists also contribute as made baskets for someone else, but it is still startling. “We played well. We just fell short”.
Luck or not, the Raptors are one game away from erasing 15 years of playoff futility.
The ensuing replay review lasted one minute but felt like an eternity. “(Stuckey’s) shoes went out and he stepped out of bounds and ran over Drake, ” Casey said. “It’s all about being patient and when my team needed it most, I came through”.
Drake deleted his post after it began to gain traction which is a shame because it’s an wonderful use of Photoshop.
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George’s frustration earned him a technical foul, and so began the Pacers’ downfall. I picked the Raps in six to start the series and I continue to stand by that.
