TORONTO — After being up by as many as 19 points the Indiana Pacers struggled to close out the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night. When the smoke cleared the cats from the North walked out of the joint with a 119-118 victory. It was their 12th straight win over Indiana which is a franchise record.
The Pacers were up by 11 points in the final four minutes of the game. The defending NBA Champs scrapped to score the final 11 points in a very good contest. They had three players score in double figures in the fourth quarter led by Serge Ibaka’s 15. He finished with 30!!! That’s NUTS!!!
Kyle Lowry did work finishing with 32 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Pascal Siakam dropped 25 on a boy for good measure.
Indiana was led by Malcom Brogdon’s 24 points as Justin Holiday came off of the bench to score 22. Domantas Sabonis came through with his third triple double of the season as he popped 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Doug McDermott was no joke off of the bench with 19.
Victor Oladipo started for the first time this season and scored a season high 13 points. After the game he had this to say.
“I feel like I played a little better today,” Oladipo said. “I could actually feel my legs kind of getting under me, especially defensively. It’s a tough loss, obviously, but there’s a lot of basketball left. We’ve just got to continue to keep getting better, keep getting stronger, and getting healthy as well. Everything else will take care of itself.”
Tough loss but they can’t let it linger because it’s their third straight “L.” They’ve got to shake it off because Toronto meets them at their place on Friday.