The Toronto Raptors ousted the Indiana Pacers in record fashion on Sunday night. How did everyone grade in the win?
The Toronto Raptors came away with a dominant 127-81 win over the Indiana Pacers. They started off hot and used their intense team defense to fuel their offensive approach. Their ball movement and transition offense were strong and efficient leading to 32 assists in the game.
Indiana was struggling in finding a way to put up clean uncontested shots with Raptors players draped all over them. At the beginning of the second quarter, they seemed to have a hint of rhythm but couldn’t catch a break with Jeremy Lamb having to leave early in the quarter with an apparent knee injury.
Domantas Sabonis has, in the past, been able to utilize his size and strength to bully the Raptors front-court. This game was different with multiple players being matched-up against the young forward to limit his momentum and movement. Outside of Justin Holiday, there were no Indiana players that were able to get into an offensive rhythm.
Both Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka came away with double-doubles and seemed to be everywhere on both ends of the floor.
Rebounding was a key driving force behind the Raptors’ success. With Marc Gasol out, there has been a need to go small with various line-ups. This causes a bit of strain on the team’s ability to rebound effectively throughout the game.
What Toronto did so successfully was that they rebounded as a team with multiple people looking to box out and allow an easier rebound for those around the cylinder. This in itself allowed the Raptors to create opportunities through their quick transition offense by breaking away quickly and gaining an open look from distance or in close.
By the halfway mark the Raptors had an even distribution of offensive effort with three players surpassing the 10 point mark. This trend continued as the team finished with six players in the double-digit category.
In the end, it was their defense that held the Pacers at bay throughout each quarter. Toronto was able to out-play and out-work their opponent on every possession. With this win, the Raptors have secured a 3-1 season series over the Pacers.