Toronto Raptors won their 13th straight game, beating Indiana Pacers last night in Indianapolis, 115-106. Although some believed that no.13 might bring some bad luck that didn’t happen and the champs cruised past the stubborn and solid rivals.
But there was one thing which did hurt the Raps, and that was Kyle Lowry‘s injury. He had to leave the game with 2:42 left until the end of the third period after crashing on the ground following a foul, and while doing so, awkwardly hit his teammate Serge Ibaka.
Lowry’s head and neck hit in Ibaka’s hip and the Raptors’ All-Star point guard couldn’t stand up for a while. After he did, the doctors took him to the locker room. Fortunately, the injury isn’t that bad, and the X-rays he made appeared negative.
In those moments, the guests from Canada were making a decisive series that appeared crucial in the end. They’ve posted 12-3 burst, taking an 84-75 lead. Lowry’s exit did cause some shock, but eventually, the fighting spirit of Nurse’s guys was the crucial reason why they got away with another triumph.
“I thought we were playing well enough to maybe get away. You know how those games come down to somebody hits a couple at one end, somebody misses a couple at the other and all of a sudden the game’s over,” explained Nurse.
The Pacers got to two points midway through the last period, but Toronto responded with a 10-1 series to close the game and notch another success.
Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and had 10 boards in this game. He was the leading scorer of the guests, and played one heck of a game on both sides of the court. The power forward was in good spirits today and was willing to joke after the match. One of the reporters asked him about his style and the fact that FVV called him out. Ibaka had an interesting answer.
“I don’t do drip or money or fashion, I do art.”
VanVleet added 20 points, with seven dimes. Terence Davis scored 17 off the bench with 8 boards; Lowry had a double-double while he played, 16 points and 11 assists, while OG Anunoby delivered the same number of points.
The Raptors scored 17 threes.
The Pacers’ forward All-Star Domantas Sabonis had a strong performance with 19 points and 16 rebounds. Malcolm Brogdon ended the night with 16 points, Oladipo 15, while Justin Holiday and TJ McConnell had 12 each.
The hosts had 20 turnovers and their head coach Nate McMillan was furious about this.
“Once again, they just killed us in transition with 27 fast-break points,” he said. “We’ve just got to do a better job taking care of the ball, a better job executing our offense and really playing both sides of the basketball.”
The Pacers (31-21) have three more games at home in the next few days. The first one is against the New Orleans Pelicans already tonight, and after that vs. Nets and the Bucks.
Raptors (38-14) also have a back-to-back game tonight, against the Brooklyn Nets, in Toronto.
