The Toronto Raptors once again showed why many believe that they have a chance to defend the title this season. Even without Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. An enormous dedication and fantastic mentality is something that covers up the loss they suffered during the free agency.
Nick Nurse’s side came back to beat the Indiana Pacers last night, 119-118. To be exact, they came back twice. At first, the hosts trailed 19 points during the third period. After that, with 2:27 to go, Indiana had a 10-point edge, which forced some of the home team’s fans to hit the exits before the end of the game.
Boy, were they wrong.
Since that moment, the guests from Indianapolis didn’t score a single basket, while on the other side, Toronto poured 11 straight. The crucial ones were delivered by Serge Ibaka, who scored a go-ahead three-pointer with half a minute to go. Up until that point, he was 1-for-6.
“Nick told me in a timeout, ‘Serge, keep shooting with confidence, just push the ball,’” Ibaka said. “He gave me a lot of confidence.”
And the big fella listened to his coach, which eventually brought results.
This was the 12th straight victory for the Canadian side, who now sits at a record of 37 wins and 14 losses. Even though the majority of their triumphs during this stretch came against the teams with a losing record, it is still a superb success for the Raps to pull out something like this.
At the moment, it seems that they might be the only team in the East that has the capabilities to endanger Milwaukee Bucks at the No.1 place. It would need a miracle for something like this to happen, but these guys proved that they are able to do amazing things.
“I think we play together. I think no matter what happens, we always stay calm and weather the storm and just continue to play basketball. We don’t get down on ourselves,” Pascal Siakam explained the team’s mindset.
The Most Improved Player of the Year dropped 25 points on Pacers’ defense with 9 boards and 5 assists, missing just one of his 11 free throws.
Serge Ibaka scored 30 points, with 7 rebounds, and 11-of-14 for two, while Kyle Lowry posted a game-high with 32 buckets. Toronto’s All-Star needed two boards to reach a triple-double as he already posted 10 assists.
On the other side, we saw Malcolm Brogdon delivering 24 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the field. He added 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Justin Holiday scored 22 points off the bench hitting six threes, while Doug McDermott added 19 with 4 downtown hits.
Domantas Sabonis was the one who got a triple-double in this one with 15 points, 11 boards, and 10 dimes.
Victor Oladipo meet the Raptors for the first time since he picked up a devastating injury against them in January 2019. He ended the night with 13 points in 25 minutes.
“I feel like I played a little better today,” Oladipo said. “I could actually feel my legs kind of getting under me, especially defensively.
Up next, we have another clash of these two sides, only in Indiana. The game is set for Friday.
