1ST HALF NOTES;
Very little defense in the first quarter with the Raptors getting easily to the basket in the first few minutes, and the Pacers begin to do the same after starting slowly in the initial 5 minutes of the first quarter. The Raptors squandered an early lead and the game was tied at 12 with 8;33 remaining in the first quarter. The game is tied at 16 with 6;58 remaining in the first quarter. T.J. Ford is off to a fast start in the game with 7 points, 2 rebounds and an assist in the first 6 minutes of the game. The Raptors lead by 23-18 with 5;26 to go in the quarter.Jose Calderon has 7 points and Danny Granger has 6 for the Pacers. The Raptors lead by 30-25 with 2;50 remaining in the first quarter as the Raptors seem to be slightly more attentive on defense than are the Indiana Pacers. The score tells it all, as the game resembles a pick up match with you buddies, in other words no defense. At the end of the first quarter, the Raptors lead 39-31. Imagine if they continue at that “pace,” pardon the pun, for the rest of the game, how crazy the score will be !
Hedo Turkoglu leads Toronto with 9 points, and Granger has 8 for Indiana to start the second quarter.The Raptors shot 56.5% in the first quarter. The Pacers were good on 44% of their field goals. Amir Johnson quickly puts up 4 points and 2 rebounds in the second quarter for the Raptors. Jarrett Jack connects for three, with 7;40 to go in the second quarter to put the Raptors up by 13. He now has 7 points and two assists with 5;58 to go in the first half. Rasho Nesterovic has put up 8 points and 3 rebounds to this point in the game, and Roy Hibbert has also produced 8 points for the Pacers. The Raptors are shooting at will without much interruption from Indiana. Toronto leads 64-47 with 4 minutes to go till the half. Calderon makes it a 20 point lead with 2;09 to go till the half. No wonder the Pacers have poor attendance for their home games, and have for several years. There’s not a lot to get excited about with this team .At the half, the Raptors lead 74-53. Jose Calderon led Toronto with 15 points and 5 assists, while Danny Granger had 14 for the Pacers to go along with 4 rebounds .This was the highest half time score for a Raptors team since December 21 1999 home win over New Jersey. The Raptors shot 63% in the first half and in the second quarter they hit their mark at 72%. The Pacers shot 36% in the second quarter.
2ND HALF NOTES;
Still no defense being played by either side to start the second half. Calderon up to 19 points in the first three minutes of the third quarter. Danny Granger has 20 for Indiana. The Pacers are shooting from 3 point range to try and get back in the game. Granger now has 25 points. The Raptors are not paying attention to him on defense. The lead was narrowed to 11 by Indiana with 6;41 left in the 3rd quarter. The lead is down to 9 Antoine Wright hit a trey with 4;40 to go in the quarter. The Pacers come back and draw a foul. It’s a 9 point lead with 3;36 to go in the quarter, 88-79. With 2;02 remaining in the third quarter the Raptors lead 94-83. Granger sinks two and he now has 27 points. The lead is down to 7 for Toronto with a minute to go and down to 5 with 33.3 seconds left. Jarrett Jack restores an 8 point lead, as the score is 100- 92 at the end of the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter the Pacers had improved their shooting proficiency to 48.5%, and obviously the Raptors weren’t playing much defense. In the third quarter specifically, the Pacers shot 62.5% and Danny Granger hit 3 of 5 from three point range.
The Raptors get their lead back up to 10 as Danny Granger has kept the Pacers in the game and has 30 points. The Raptors have a seven point lead with 6;52 left.The Raptors are up by ten with 4 ;15 left in the quarter, 119-110. The Raptors up their lead to 121-109 with 2;51 to go. Toronto wins the game 123-112.
GAME SUMMARY;
The Pacers are a bad team who do not play defense, and quite frankly, the Raptors defense in the second half was nothing special either, in allowing the Pacers back into the game, and narrowing their 21 point half time lead to 5 at one brief moment in the 3rd quarter. The Raptors seem to play defense when they feel like it,or against teams that don’t physically or mentally intimidate them. The Raptors can’t handle big, strong and mentally tough teams like the Denver Nuggets, and of course, there are many other teams that can’t handle them either. The Raptors in particular, looked soft against the Nuggets.
The Raptors had 7 players in double figures, including Calderon with 21, Jack with 18, DeMar DeRozan and Turkoglu each had 14,Nesterovic finished with 12, Belinelli put up 11, while Chris Bosh finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, to go along with 4 blocked shots and 4 assists. Danny Granger was superb in an otherwise terrible game for Indiana, netting 36 points, and draining 7 of 13 from three point range. He also had 9 rebounds,and 5 assists.
Indiana has now allowed 4 straight opponents to surpass 100 points. Pacers coach Jim O’Brien stated the obvious in his post game comments; “ We just did not play with any defensive force and as result, we got pounded.” Yes, coach, they most certainly did get pounded.