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Pacers Seriously Excited About Game 7 Opportunity

Paul George was late to the interview podium following the Pacers' Game 6 victory over Toronto on Friday, having iced his legs, showered, dressed and who knows what else after their 101-83 victory over Toronto at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

When he got there, unsmiling and stoic, his words didn't seem to jibe with his demeanor.

"Really looking forward to it," he said quietly. "Really excited about this Game 7."

Game 7 comes Sunday evening in Toronto, where the Pacers try to upset the second-seeded Raptors. They earned the trip with an unlikely victory where their actions didn't seem to jibe with their first-half demeanor.

Showing little emotion on the court or on the bench, the Pacers fell behind 18-6 and still trailed by 11 with less than three minutes left in the first quarter. Solomon Hill's 3-pointer sparked a 9-0 run that got them within two at the end of the period, and they slogged their way to a four-point halftime deficit that seemed better than they deserved.

They hit just 33 percent of their field goal attempts in the first half, and didn't make the hustle plays. They were outrebounded 28-21, gave up 14 second-chance points, and left loose balls unretrieved on the floor. There was nothing to suggest they were excited about the opportunity to extend the series or eager to avoid the embarrassment of having their season end on their home court.

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"They were getting to loose balls," Hill said. "They were desperate in the first half and made the extra plays."

Something happened at halftime, though. There was no Gipper speech from coach Frank Vogel, no special interaction among the players. Just a realization of what needed to be done.

"We didn't want to go home," said Myles Turner, who once again didn't play like a 20-year-old rookie. "Nobody really said that, but you could tell. It's time to go."

And so they went. A 7-0 run early in the third quarter produced the Pacers' first lead of the game, 47-46. DeMar DeRozan took it back with a rare field goal (he finished 3-of-13), but Ian Mahinmi got it right back with a tip-in and the Pacers never trailed again. Gradually building momentum and imposing their defensive will on the Raptors, they put away the game with an 18-0 run that spanned the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters for an 18-point lead. Unlike Tuesday, when they squandered a 13-point lead in Toronto in Game 5, they won going away.

So, yes, they're excited about Sunday's opportunity. But in a quiet sort of way.

"It's like Game 1," George said. "We have to go in and impose our will early. They're going to have everything on their side at home, the crowd going crazy. If we continue on how we (played) to start Game 5, take the crowd out of it, let it just be about basketball, we'll be confident to leave Toronto with the series in our hands."

One could argue the pressure will be on the Raptors in Game 7. They're the second-seeded team, the one that won 56 regular season games, the one that's been gradually built to this point, the one that has failed to get out of the First Round the past two seasons.

George acknowledged that.

"The pressure's on both teams," he said. "It's the final game, it's win or go home. But yeah, there's added pressure on them, being at home, their troubles getting out of the First Round. It comes down to who wants it. And we feel good about it."

George, who averaged 28.8 points on 47 percent shooting in the first five games of the series, had his first poor shooting game, but also his most interesting one. He finished with 21 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but was aggressive enough to get to the line for 10 free throws, hitting them all, and add 11 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

"My job tonight was to be a threat, put pressure on them, pick them apart with passes, move the ball, try to get them to shift their defense a little bit," George said. "(His teammates) were the ones who really did the damage tonight."

The other four Pacers starters finished in double figures, each scoring between 12 and 15 points, and Solomon Hill and Rodney Stuckey added nine and eight, respectively, off the bench. The Pacers outrebounded Toronto, had more assists and fewer turnovers, and held its All-Star backcourt tandem of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan to a combined 18 points on 7-of-27 shooting.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel didn't stray far from his typical substitution pattern, other than to keep George on the court with the reserves at the start of the second and fourth quarters, and stay with two "bigs" in the game more often to keep Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo from dominating.

"Paul George can't beat the Raptors," Vogel said. "The Pacers have to beat the Raptors."

They'll take that approach with them to Toronto after practice on Saturday, and see what happens. They're underdogs, but they have expectations. They're excited, but they remain realistic, having lived through a fourth quarter collapse that cost them Game 5.

"We definitely have some momentum," Turner said. "But the momentum could change at any time."

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