Quick Reaction: Pacers 104, Raptors 122

This was an oddly quiet Ingram game. Though he did pick up exactly where he left the last Pacers game, getting buckets over Johnny Furphy (get better soon). He kicked the game off with an elbow jumper over the second year guard. His scoring was slowed in the opening half but he had three dimes to Mamukelashvili for two threes and an easy paint floater. While the shots weren’t falling he was cleaning the glass and even picked up two blocks early (though one of them was taken away?). He scored 7 of his 13 in the third with all of the buckets coming either at the rim or the free throw line. Also seemed to be taking part in a wrestling match today as he was flipped over Walker’s back on a drive and was dragged down on another shot on the basket. Not much scoring from Ingram but his impact was still felt, not something you could say earlier this year.

Since returning from his injury Barrett hasn’t had the same ability to get all the way to the rim. Or so I thought. In the first half many of his drives fell a couple feet short and he was forced to either pivot, fake,and hope for a foul or pass out. A plan that worked out alright as he did get to the line five times in the first half. He kicked off the second half with a putback then was a perfect outlet for two Quickley drives as he knocked down two threes. In the fourth he got to the rim a little bit easier which propelled him to 20 points on the night. Despite three first half turnovers he still finished with Toronto’s highest plus/minus on the day due to his combination of scoring, rebounding, and playmaking.

Quickley struggled a little bit early to get things going, he was short on some jumpers and had a five second violation. But his shot making in the second half was an essential part of the Raptors’ run. He hit back-to-back threes and assisted two threes for Barrett as well. He also kept things rolling in the fourth as he drilled another three to keep the Pacers at bay. Not to mention he threw the most insane over the head backwards pass to Barnes while falling out of bounds?? That was absolutely wild. I’ll never complain about a game like this from Quickley.

Barnes was a mixed-bag on his drives in the first half, at times he bullied his way to the rim, or finagled a turnaround jumper but he also had a couple of turnovers and tough misses. Defensively he picked up a steal and block and was able to fight through a Huff screen to draw an offensive foul à la Jamal Shead. In the second half he was an absolute jackhammer. He came out of the break on a mission, he was attacking the defensive glass with vigor, and punishing the Pacers over and over with vicious attacks of the rim. In the third quarter alone he had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. That was the major difference in this game, he flipped a switch, turning the aggression up, and leading the Raptors to a 44-26 third quarter. Every matchup against Siakam he takes personally and this one even more so as he passed Siakam for fifth on the Raptors’ all-time double-double list.

This man has been on fire lately, he’s seemingly drilling every three he takes and has been Toronto’s most consistent bench guy on a nightly basis. Most of his work came in the first half as he checked into this one and immediately stole a pass and then hit back-to-back threes. In the second quarter he went on another mini-run: First with a strong drive to the rim, then responding to a Siakam rainbow layup with another three from the wing, his third of the half. Finally, he found the bottom of the net on a floater after Ingram drew the attention of Jay Huff. His first half scoring led both teams and kept the Raptors fighting after a strong Pacers run. In the second half he quieted, but got to the line for two points and caught a touchdown from Barnes for a wide-open dunk. His scoring was essential early and opened things up in the second half for everyone else.

What better of a debut could you ask for from the newcomer? A double-double in just 16 minutes of action? The man was a beast on the offensive glass, replicating the production we’ve grown used to from Murray-Boyles. He saved countless possessions for the Raptors and nailed 6 of his 10 free throw attempts. More than that I was impressed with his defensive instincts and motor on both ends. As he continues to learn the Raptors’ schemes and gels with the others he will fit like a glove.

Dick scored the majority of his points in garbage-time, but did have a ferocious dunk that was pretty nice. Otherwise he was active in the first with 3 steals, (though really only two as one was thrown out of bounds trying to throw it off someone’s foot) but didn’t do much else. Would love to see him get more plays drawn to create open threes.

Shead was doing his best Kyle Lowry impression today, drawing two charges. While Shead draws plenty of offensive fouls, he had drawn only four charges coming into this one. A topic of discussion on the broadcast was that Shead had spent time watching Lowry film to understand the art of charge-taking better. Mission accomplished. He also bailed the Raptors out with a late shot clock three in the first half and knocked down three free throws. I’m excited to see more pick n’ roll between him and Trayce Jackson-Davis, they tried it once and Jackson-Davis was fouled on a dunk attempt. Lots of fruit to pick off that tree.

Offensively Walter was meh tonight, but his defense was essential in the second half of this one. He started the second half in place of Murray-Boyles and completely erased Nembhard from the game. Nembhard had 10 points in the first half but was held scoreless in the second, forcing Indiana to initiate their offense through Siakam instead.

He got some good looks tonight but couldn’t knock them down. After a hot start to the season he’s missed a ton of looks lately.

The Raptors tried to get the ball to Murray-Boyles early but just couldn’t sneak the passes through. He did block an Andrew Nembhard jumper from behind but that would be it for the rookie as he was ruled out between the first and second quarter after being hit on his taped thumb.

Garbage time.

Garbage time.

Garbage time.

Whenever you’re coaching against one of the best coaches of all time (which Rick Carlisle is), it can be a daunting task. I thought that Rajakovic had a relatively poor first half, capped off by an unnecessary challenge on a Barnes’ foul call but made up for it with his second half adjustments. Inserting Walter into the starting lineup to start the second half took Andrew Nembhard out of the game, and it limited the options the Pacers had to initiate their offense. That alone completely changed the outlook of the half, combined with whatever he told Barnes at halftime to get his engine firing… Whew..