Pacers top Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are discovering the ups and downs of the NBA’s new two-game series format.
A day after Toronto’s impressive victory at Indiana, Malcolm Brogdon and the firedup Pacers hit back with a 129-114 win that unravelled over the dying minutes.
“Teams like that, when we’re playing back to back, they’re going to come out and give us everything they have at the start because they don’t want to lose two games in a row,” said Norman Powell, who had 24 points on the night.
A day after he’d been held to just a dozen points by Toronto, Brogdon poured in a career-high 36, plus doled out nine assists.
Fred VanVleet had 25 points to top the Raptors (7-10), who beat Indy 107-102 the previous day.
The NBA has implemented a twogame series format this season to reduce travel and limit exposure to COVID-19. The Raptors benefitted against Miami, last week bouncing back after a loss to beat the Heat.
But the tables were turned Monday, and the Raptors, said coach Nick Nurse, “were half a count slow early in the game.
“We just weren’t back (on defence) and we just weren’t taking good enough shots to give our defence a chance, and our defence wasn’t quite ready enough, so that’s it,” Nurse said.
“I was incredibly locked in today,” Brogdon said. “We both love the game, we both think about the game all the time and we both hate losing. It drove me crazy until we were able to get back on the court tonight.”
Kyle Lowry, who’d missed the two previous games with a toe infection, had 12 points on just 2-for-11 shooting.
The all-star guard picked up two quick technicals and was ejected with 47 seconds to play, tugging off his jersey in frustration as he stomped to the lockerroom.