INDIANAPOLIS – The game was barely a minute old when DeMar DeRozan launched a long jump shot and drew a foul on the play, bringing the Toronto Raptors’ entire bench to its feet in celebration.
DeRozan was back.
The all-star who struggled so mightily in Games 1 and 2, rediscovered his form on Thursday, lifting Toronto to a 101-85 win over the Indiana Pacers for a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven opening-round series.
“Just seeing the ball go through the hoop for him is always a positive,” fellow all-star Kyle Lowry said. “I’m not too concerned with him shooting shots and missing shots, or making shots. It was just a good sign for us as a team to take that first punch. They hit a three and we come back with an and-one, so it was just a relief for us: OK, we’re good.
“We matched the intensity, we matched the progression of the game.”
Lowry also had 21 points, including four three-pointers, while DeMarre Carroll chipped in with 17 points, and was spectacular in stifling Pacers star Paul George, who had 25 points for Indiana. Cory Joseph had 10 points off the bench.
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“I liked our intensity, our approach, our attention to detail on the defensive end,” said coach Dwane Casey.
DeRozan had averaged just 12 points on horrible shooting through the first two games, but he and his teammates insisted it was only a matter of time before he got going.
He scored 12 points in a first-quarter scoring flurry as the Raptors roared out to an early 10-point lead and never looked back. Casey explained afterward they’d adjusted the types of screens DeRozan’s teammates set to help open him up.
“We put in a couple new sets in shootaround,” DeRozan said. “But I came out aggressive, looking for my shot, understanding, picking, choosing where I was going to shoot from, and they went down tonight.”
The Raptors, who have played well on the road all season and are the league-leaders for wins in Indiana going back to 2012, looked completely at ease against a backdrop of gold, courtesy of a T-shirt giveaway at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. They led by as many as 23 points in the first half, and took a 71-59 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The onslaught continued in the final 12 minutes, and when Joseph drove to the hoop for a pretty finger roll, it put the Raptors up 83-63. The Pacers pulled to within 16 points, but back-to-back threes by Lowry and Carroll took the wind out of any momentum the Pacers might muster, and Toronto cruised to an easy victory.
Raptors fans who made the trip chanted “Let’s go Raptors!” as the final seconds ticked down, while back in Toronto, the fans that squeezed into Maple Leaf Square to watch the game on the giant screen outside the Air Canada Centre celebrated with high fives and cheers.
Carroll’s performance was welcome news for the Raptors, who acquired him in the off-season from Atlanta for his defensive intensity. He missed more than half the season with injury, however, including 42 straight games after knee surgery.
“The biggest thing for me was just come in and be physical. Try to play my game,” Carroll said. “Coach told me he would lift the minute restrictions so that was a bit of a relief for me mentally knowing I could play as hard as I could for as long as I could.”
The game was by far the Raptors’ best this series, but they say they can get better.
“Once we get clicking on all cylinders we are going to be very serious,” Carroll said. “If we can just keep playing like this and our bigs keep playing like this, the sky is the limit for us.”
Added DeRozan: “We’ve just got to keep building, every single game, keep building, keep continuing to get better on both ends, and once we get that rhythm, it’s going to be tough to beat us,” he said.
Game 4 goes Saturday in Indianapolis, then the series shifts back to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday.
There were small pockets of noisy Raptors fans, including two men holding a Canadian flag who incited a whole section to point at them and chant “U-S-A! U-S-A!” prior to tip-off. Early in the game, a Pacers fan chucked a mini-basketball that hit Casey in the head.
The night was virtually a home game for Casey, who was born in Indianapolis and still has family and friends in the city, many of whom were at the game.
“But they’re not allowed to wear blue and gold as far as the Pacers colours,” Casey said pre-game. “My mom, rest her soul, she was one of the biggest Pacers fans that there was.”
DeRozan’s solid start propelled the Raptors to a 24-17 first-quarter lead.
Toronto continued to pull away in the second quarter, taking a 23-point lead on a pair of DeRozan free throws. They led 53-36 at halftime.
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