SLOW, STEADY MARCH
TOWARD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PLAYOFF EDITION
TOWARD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PLAYOFF EDITION
-VS-
Game Time Start: 12:30 PM ET
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, CA
Officials: Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, Josh Tiven
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Toronto Notes
Television: / SportsNet One
Radio: WFNI 1070 AM, 107.5 FM / CJCL 590, 1050 AM
NBA Feeds:
*NBA Audio League Pass (available free to NBA All-Access members)
*NBA League Pass Broadband (subscription req'd)
*NBA League Pass Broadband (subscription req'd)
REMINDER: Per PD policy, please do not share a link to, describe how to search for, request a link to, or request a PM about streaming video of a NBA game that is not coming directly through the NBA. Not even in a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge, know-what-I-mean" round-about sort of way. Thank you
|
|
PACERS CJ Miles - Sore Right Shoulder (questionable) RAPTORS None reported |
Previews: Toronto Raptors vs. Indiana Pacers Kelly Dwyer One of the wackier NBA regular seasons in history is over, for better or worse, and the two-month playoff run is set to begin. With the first round upon us, the minds at Ball Don't Lie decided to preview each series. We start with Toronto and Indiana. How They Got Here • Toronto: After a long, typically blustery and chilly Toronto summer following yet another enervating first-round loss, the Raps could have entered training camp with lids drooped, and yet they turned in their best season in franchise history. General manager Masai Ujiri brought the whole gang back in 2015-16 following the team’s disappointing defeat at the hands of the Washington Wizards last year, relying on internal development and role player tweaking to turn the tide. The task of standing out seemed a rather formidable one entering the season as those same Wizards, the reigning East regular-season champion Hawks, the supposedly reborn Chicago Bulls and potentially healthy Miami Heat all wanted to lay claim to the East’s second seed behind Cleveland. Yet it was the Raptors who entered the season’s third-to-last day with a mathematical chance at the top seed in the East. That attempt fizzled out with Cleveland’s comeback win over Atlanta on Monday evening, but by the end of January Toronto had firmly established itself as the East’s clear No. 2 on the back of a versatile roster that could hit you on both ends. The defense has relented since then, but the offense still finds its moxie in the form of leader Kyle Lowry, who famously came to training camp in the best shape of his career, on his way toward a second consecutive All-Star berth. Joining him there was DeMar DeRozan, the sort of shooting guard who would lead the NBA in 2-point attempts in a 3-point world, more than making up for that by hitting over seven free throws a contest. Beyond there, role players abound. Major free-agent signee DeMarre Carroll struggled with injuries to his surgery-familiar right knee, but he returned for three games down the stretch and could slowly ease back into his old self as the long (we hope, right?) playoff march moves along. Veterans Luis Scola and Cory Joseph came straight out of central casting, Terrence Ross can still snipe and bench big men Patrick Patterson and Bismack Biyombo had two stellar seasons. • Indiana: Indiana relied on a mini-blowup of sorts following the team’s playoff absence in 2015. The squad played most of that year without an injured Paul George, while watching big man Roy Hibbert turn into an anachronism some 25 minutes at a time. The team’s coaching staff and front office stated that it wanted to go small and fast to start 2015-16, and while they succeeded in as much in terms of roster development (dumping Hibbert on Los Angeles), this hasn’t been the most consistent of seasons. Still, the team is back in the postseason, and George turned in one of the better comeback seasons of the past 20 years: He hit for a career-high 23.1 points per game with seven rebounds, while playing in 81 games. His 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals also tied career highs. Signee Monta Ellis gave the Pacers his typical 13.8 points on 12.6 shots, George Hill can frustrate but he does play to the maximum of his potential and made over 40 percent of his 3-pointers, while guards C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey can turn second and late-third quarters on their ears in ways both good and bad. The real killers here are stalwart center Ian Mahinmi, who had a career year, and rookie Myles Turner. Mahinmi’s old man game is a welcome sight for a team that works with George at power forward for long stretches (though he doesn’t start there anymore, after weeks of chafing), and Turner...CONTINUE READING AT BALL DON'T LIE |
Can Toronto finally escape the first round? Yaron Weitzman The Raptors are in as good a position as ever to advance in the playoffs, but they also carry a history of two straight upset defeats. Will Indiana be the third? The Toronto Raptors just never faded. Unlike years past where they tailed off after a hot start, Toronto -- led by the NBA's best backcourt east of Oakland -- surged to the top of the conference standings and stayed there for the entire season. Dwayne Casey's bunch even gave LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers a bit of a scare. The Raptors failed to catch Cleveland in the end, but setting a franchise record for regular season wins and entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed is a fine consolation prize. Things haven't gone as smoothly for the Indiana Pacers. Indiana came into the season looking to embrace the NBA's small ball, three-point shooting revolution. Initially, thanks to a scorching hot start from C.J. Miles, the plan worked. Eventually, though, Miles ceased shooting like the second coming of Klay Thompson and the Pacers, despite Paul George's stellar play, fell off a bit. The emergence of rookie Myles Turner, who may go down as one of the top picks in the 2015 draft, helped stabilize the team. But a porous crunch-time record -- the Pacers have dropped 20 games in which they once held a lead in the fourth quarter this season -- kept Indiana in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Now the Pacers will have to take four out of seven games from a squad that's been one of the league's best all year. The key for the Pacers will be turning up the pace and getting the typically snail-like Raptors to do something they so rarely do: turn the ball over. Only five teams forced more turnovers per 100 possessions this season than Indiana and only six teams turned the ball over less frequently than Toronto, per NBA.com. The Pacers were also No. 1 in the league in points off turnovers, meaning they rely on those cough-ups to kick start their often anemic offense. It will be hard for them to pull off the upset if the Raptors are able to hold onto the ball. Indiana does have some trees to guard the rim, which could make life difficult for the perpetually attacking Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. As is seemingly always the case, Frank Vogel's team does an excellent job of limiting clean looks from deep. That means that Lowry and DeRozan will have to get even more creative in how they get their points, make sure they continue to draw contact and get to the foul line at a prolific rate. If, somehow, the Pacers are able...CONTINUE READING AT SBNATION |
Pacers Candace Buckner @CandaceDBuckner Jared Wade @8pts9secs Tim Donahue @TimDonahue8p9s Tom Lewis @indycornrows Ian Levy @HickoryHigh Whitney @its_whitney |
Raptors Doug Smith @SmithRaps Holly MacKenzie @stackmack Sam Holako @RapsFan Adam Francis @raptorshq Joseph Casciaro @JosephCasciaro Blake Murphy @BlakeMurphyODC |
Comment