Biyombo comes up big vs. Pacers
Raptors centre has best game of his career, with 16 points, franchise-record 25 rebounds
INDIANAPOLIS— Dwane Casey talked about Bismack Biyombo’s spirit and his old soul Thursday morning, lauding the Toronto Raptors centre for his quiet leadership and desire to always do the right thing. Prophetic, indeed. Biyombo had the greatest night of his NBA career Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, breathing some life into a corpse of a game as the Raptors beat the Indiana Pacers 101-94 in overtime to run their record to 46-21 in what could have been a preview of a first-round playoff matchup.
The 23-year-old Biyombo, who has emerged into a force off the bench for the Raptors this season and an excellent spot starter when needed, had a career- and franchise-high 25 rebounds, eclipsing the franchise record of 24 set by Donyell Marshall in 2004. Biyombo also had a careerbest 16 points;
Biyombo’s previous best game was 20 rebounds, accomplished in early December against Dallas. He is the first player in franchise history to have two 20-rebound games in one season.
His was the only performance worth noting as both teams were brutal for much the entire game. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry struggled with their offence and Toronto’s bench was invisible all night. The Pacers weren’t appreciably better, shooting less than 40 per cent from the field and less than 30 per cent from three-point range.
The game was redeemed slightly by a dramatic finish as Monta Ellis split two free throws, making the second with 14.2 seconds left to pull the Pacers into an 85-85 tie. The Raptors ran a last-possession play for DeRozan but his shot at the buzzer missed badly. Kyle Lowry and George Hill matched three pointers in the first two minutes of the overtime before DeRozan and Lowry had unanswered buckets to put the Raptors up four. Lowry then put a move on Pacers rookie Myles Turner that knocked Turner to the floor for a six-point lead Toronto nursed home.
Lowry and DeRozan each finished with 28 points for the Raptors while Paul George had 18 for Indiana.
Biyombo, who had 13 of his rebounds and nine of his points in the first half, provided exactly the kind of complementary play the team has come to expect.
“He’s all we thought he would be and more,” Casey said of Biyombo, who got his second straight start as Jonas Valanciunas sat out another game because of a bruised right hand. “His spirit has been so strong, his ability to talk the defence has helped everybody, it’s contagious to our other bigs.
“His presence and his physicality has really helped us, his screening has helped us. We, in the past, have been a very bad screening team and he’s really brought some of that to us.”
But all of Biyombo’s energy and Luis Scola’s intelligence couldn’t rescue the Raptors from a dull start and a three-point halftime deficit.
The bench production was particularly gruesome as Jason Thompson’s four free throws represented the only scoring from the backups. Cory Joseph missed all four of his field-goal attempts, Terrence Ross showed little interest in being fully involved in his 12 minutes and Patrick Patterson missed the only shot he took.
It allowed the Pacers, who shot only 36 per cent in the half, to lead 46-43 at the break with the game played at a grinding, ugly pace.
Toronto managed just 16 points in the second quarter, shooting 4-for-19 from the field. It might not have been that unexpected; the last time the Raptors were in Indiana, they were held to a season-low 13 points in the second quarter of a Dec. 14 game.