DeRozan back to his old self to lift Raps
Team defence outstanding, including DeMarre Carroll on Indiana all-star Paul George
INDIANAPOLIS— DeMar DeRozan talked and people may not have listened or believed but he was true to his word when the Toronto Raptors needed him the most.
For days the all-star guard had been adamant that his shooting woes were a fluke, the product of bad fortune more than bad play and that eventually all would be right in his world.
A 21-point performance, a free and easy night when he looked in midseason form, lifted the Raptors to a 101-85 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their NBA Eastern Conference first-round series.
Now leading the best-of-seven series 2-1, Toronto can take a stranglehold on it when Game 4 goes here Saturday afternoon. Game 5 is in Toronto on Tuesday.
While there were many other factors — monstrous defence at times, more rebounding dominance by Jonas Valanciunas and the seemingly indestructible will of Kyle Lowry — the Raptors needed DeRozan to be himself and he was from the opening tip
He scored a dozen points in the first quarter, looking like he was playing a game in mid-January rather than late-April as the Raptors took control right off the bat.
The Pacers had their moments, clawing back within10 points early in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors got back-to-back three pointers from Lowry and Patrick Patterson to re- gain control.
Toronto’s defence was outstanding, particularly the job DeMarre Carroll did most of the night on Indiana’s Paul George.
While George did finish with 25 points, about 10 came after the outcome had been long decided and he missed his first six field goal attempts in the second half. That Carroll also chipped in 17 points was just an added bonus for the Raptors.
Lowry, his usual hell-bent self all over the floor, finished with 21points and eight assists, hitting four threepointers to assuage fears his elbow was bothering his shooting touch.
Valanciunas had his third straight double-digit rebounding night, gobbling up 13 boards but once again fighting foul trouble.
Toronto proved to be one of the best road teams in the NBA in the regular season, rattling off a franchise-record 24 wins away from home.
Casey and the players have spoken often about the “us-against-theworld” mentality that they tend to bring to away games.
“Well, it’s always relevant when you’re able to win on the road during the season, establishing a personality and a consistency,” Casey said before the game. “You have a bar for yourself that you set for yourself.”
There has been a level of toughness to the Raptors on the road this sea- son that’s been admirable.
“We like that challenge for some reason,” DeRozan said Thursday morning. “We’ve got to compete off the home crowd’s energy. We kind of play off of that.”
The Raptors took a crowd that was surprisingly subdued at the start of the game, out of the proceedings entirely with a dominant first half.
More than DeRozan’s 12 first-quarter points which included six trips to the free throw line, Toronto’s stifling and physical defence frustrated the Pacers, who committed 12 first-half turnovers and were hit with technical fouls on George for arguing a non-call and Rodney Stuckey, who tried to kick or trip Patterson.
“We’ve just got to come out and leave everything out there in the first quarter,” a prescient DeRozan said before the game.
“We understand we have to come out and play hard, especially with what happened last game, not think about nothing else, honestly, just go out there and leave it all out there.”
But for as much as Toronto dominated the first half, a collective 7for-27 shooting third quarter by the Raptors allowed the Pacers to get back in the game, closing with 12 going into the fourth.