INDIANAPOLIS – One of the running themes for the Toronto Raptors this season has been an emphasis on the process over results; on finding consistency and establishing an identity that they can rely on, in good times and bad.
It’s one of the reasons the Raptors established themselves as one of the NBA’s best road teams; their 23-17 record tied for third in the league.
So results aside, heading into Game 3 of their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers, the question of the day was: “When would the Raptors actually show up and play their best basketball? Would they begin looking like the No. 2 seed in the East, the club that won 56 games, or not? Would their regular-season road show travel in the playoffs?"
The answer is yes. With their most complete effort of the series, with contributions from all across their roster but in particular from their biggest-name players, the Raptors came to Bankers Life Fieldhouse and snatched home court advantage back from the Indiana Pacers with a thorough 101-85 win in which they led nearly wire-to-wire and were never really threatened.
"Tonight out of the total three games, this was a lot closer to Toronto Raptors basketball," said Raptors forward Patrick Patterson, who has been one of the steadiest players in the series.
It wasn’t perfect. Focusing on the process means that there is always something that can be improved. But for the first time in this series, and maybe for the first time for this core group in the playoffs period, you could see the outline of their best selves from here and against the Pacers at least, it looked pretty promising.
The Raptors jumped out to a 24-17 lead in a first quarter that almost seemed designed to answer every lingering question about their playoff fitness that had popped up through the first two games.
Example 1: Paul George has been torching the Raptors through two games and DeMarre Carroll, among others, has looked powerless to do anything about it. On the Pacers’ first possession of the game the Raptors extended the Pacers late in the shot clock until George was forced to take an off-balance, rushed, fadeaway with Carroll draped all over him, which he missed as the buzzer sounded.
It was a harbinger of sorts as George was at least partially handcuffed by Carroll who played 35 hard minutes – nearly double the load he’s put on his surgically repaired knee – and forced George into a 6-of-19 shooting night, an accomplishment given he was shooting 54 per cent for the series, averaging 30.5 points a game. That Carroll chipped in with 17 points and three triples was gravy.
"I spent a lot of good energy, but luckily my wife is here so she can give me a nice massage tonight," said Carroll. "It was a lot of energy, chasing [George] around and then trying to come down and knock down some threes. It’s been a long time since I played that long. It was a great feeling so I just have to build off it."
He’s been trying to cram months of training into a few weeks since coming back from 12 weeks missed due to his surgery and he’s starting to look like a player again.
Signed in the off-season to give trouble to big, gifted wings like George, Carroll delivered. He says the best yet to come.
"This was close, but once we get clicking on all cylinders we’re going to be very scary," he said. "If we can just keep playing like this and our bench keep playing like this, the sky is the limit for us."
Example 2: DeMar DeRozan seemed discombobulated in Game 1 and 2, as his 27 per cent shooting would suggest. The Pacers weren’t biting on his fakes and he was struggling to hit even open shots.
DeRozan swore he wasn’t panicked.
“They’re doing a great job, you have to give them credit,” he said before the game. “A lot of tricky fouls you’re used to getting they’re doing a great job to keep their hands to themselves, they’re not sticking their hands out there where I can get a foul, but that’s the beauty of the playoffs. You just figure out another way that you can do it and be just as successful. I’m going to figure it out.”
A moment after the Raptors stifled George on defence, DeRozan rubbed him off a solid screen by Luis Scola, faked him off his feet and made the 15-foot jumper while fouled. He made the free throw and went on to score 12 points in the quarter while getting to the free throw line six times. The first basket was directly in front of the Raptors bench and they erupted.
"It was exciting," said Patterson, who has seven points and four rebounds in 26 minutes. "It’s good to see DeMar hit DeMar shots. All the shots he’s been missing are shots he normally makes on a consistent basis and for it to fall tonight causes us to keep fighting and continue playing better."
For good measure DeRozan found a cutting Jonas Valanciunas for an early assist and generally was a more willing passer off his penetration, saving him from having to throw up too many ill-advised shots when the Pacers didn’t foul. DeRozan still has a ways to go, but he set the tone in an important road game and played well enough to suggest there’s more meat on that bone. His six-of-18 line wasn’t pretty but the Raptors will take his nine trips to the free throw line and 21 points and hope he can build on it, just as he hopes the Raptors can build on their performance in Game 3.
"It was our best game so far, [but] we can play much better than we played tonight, obviously," said DeRozan. "We just have to keep building every single game, keep building and once we get that rhythm it’s definitely going to be tough to beat us. We understand that and that’s why we take it so seriously in shoot-around and when we’re watching film because there’s always ways we can get better."
Example 3: Kyle Lowry’s three-point shooting was a problem before the series began and hadn’t got untracked in Games 1 or 2, not that he needed reminding.
“I’m 1-for-12, I know,” he said before the game. “I feel every shot I take is good, that’s how I feel, to be honest. But we just have to keep playing. Even if I shoot 1-for-24 and we win games, that’s all that matters.”
He hit his second three of the series midway through the first period as the Raptors jumped out to their early lead and while he wasn’t on fire from deep, it looks like his stroke has returned. He had another big one early in the fourth quarter before assisting on a Patterson three that pushed the Raptors to an 81-63 lead after the Pacers had cut the Raptors’ advantage to 11. He finished with 21 points and shot 4-of-10 from deep to go along with eight assists.
It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was progress.
There remains no shortage of teaching points for Casey to dive into in preparation for Game 4 on Saturday afternoon but with the likes of Lowry, DeRozan and Carroll combining for their best performances of the playoffs and the Raptors bench, led by Cory Joseph and Patterson continuing to deliver, Toronto looked something close to whole in a playoff game for the first time in a long time.
In a way that’s what everyone is looking for. It’s probably too much to expect the Raptors to walk through the Pacers or anyone else, but a glance around the NBA shows that other higher seeds are laying waste to teams they are simply better than. The Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets finished with the same record, but the Heat are lifting their games and the Hornets look helpless. It’s a similar situation between Atlanta and Boston, and Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio all look poised to sweep their series.
The Raptors look poised to take flight. "I liked our intensity, and our approach," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey of his team, which held the Pacers to 38.2 per cent shooting and won the rebounding battle 45-38. "I think it set the tone for the entire game. I liked our effort on attention to detail, on the defensive end."
Is he happy? Well, no, of course not.
"I won’t be happy until we’re done," he said. "Again there are so many things that we can do better."
Which is true, but it could be the emotions and physicality of playoff basketball means that it’s hard to look really sharp; the games themselves are too ragged.
But the Raptors can’t get weighed down by that, they have bigger goals they should be striving for. Getting out of the first round is the minimum the No. 2 seed Raptors should be aspiring to. In the bigger picture their game should be rounding into shape so they can take care of business in May if not beyond. Winning Game 3 the way they did is an important step in winning this series, and the first real sign that the best may be yet to come.
