Raptors put an end to seventh- game ills
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan pushed the Toronto Raptors into the second round — finally.
DeRozan scored 30 points and Toronto beat the Indiana Pacers 89- 84 on Sunday night in Game 7 to advance to face Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Raptors won a best-of-seven series for the first time.
“We got the monkey off our back, more than anything, from these past couple of years,” DeRozan said. It just feels good to get that off.”
The Raptors won their first postseason series since a five- game triumph over the New York Knicks in 2001, ending the NBA’s longest active drought between series victories. Toronto lost in the first round the previous two seasons, including a Game 7 loss to Brooklyn in 2014 and a sweep to Washington last year.
The Raptors are now 1- 2 in Game 7s. They lost by one point to Philadelphia in the conference semifinals in 2001.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 rebounds and 10 points, Rookie Norman Powell added 13 points, and Kyle Lowry had 11 for Toronto, set to open at home against the Heat on Tuesday night.
DeRozan, who struggled with his shooting throughout the series, was 10 of 32 in Game 7.
“He was huge,” Coach Dwane Casey said. “I thought he got his swagger back, his rhythm back a little bit.”
Paul George led Indiana
with 26 points and 12 rebounds, George Hill added 19 points, and Monta Ellis had 15.
George, whose strong performances helped carry seventh- seeded Indiana into Game 7, made just two of eight attempts in the second half and admitted afterward to being tired.
Toronto nearly ran out of gas, too, scoring 11 points in the final quarter and watching as the Pacers whittled a 16- point deficit down to three in the final few minutes.
“We stunk it up in the fourth quarter,” Casey said. “It wasn’t pretty, believe me, but our defense carried us down the stretch.”
Up 78- 64 after three, the Raptors didn’t make their first basket of the fourth until
a three- pointer by Powell at 8: 19. Joseph followed with a pullup jumper to make it 81- 67, leading to an Indiana timeout.
The Pacers responded by scoring 12 of the next 14 points, cutting it to 85- 79 with 3: 23 remaining. Indiana cut it to three at 85- 82 on Ellis’ three- pointer with 2: 37 left, but Lowry answered with a driving layup.
George made two free throws with 52 seconds left to pull Indiana within three again at 87- 84. After DeRozan missed a three- pointer, Solomon Hill grabbed the rebound and Indiana called a timeout to draw up a play for George, but he turned the ball over. DeRozan made the steal, then got fouled at the other end and made both free throws with 6.5 seconds left, giving the Raptors an 89- 84 lead.
George missed a three- pointer with 3.9 seconds left, Biyombo grabbed the rebound and Lowry heaved the ball to the other end of the court as time expired, sending Toronto into the second round.