Game Rap: Raptors 101, Pacers 94

Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com

Patrick Patterson drove to the basket and threw down a thunderous slam to put Toronto ahead by six with 36 seconds remaining. A 3-pointer from C.J. Miles with 16 seconds to go would bring the Pacers within four, but the Raptors secured the 101-94 victory by making free throws down the stretch. The win moved Toronto to 46-21 on the season.

Jonas Valanciunas missed his second straight game with a left hand contusion. He sustained the injury during the first quarter of Toronto’s loss to Chicago on Monday night. Bismack Biyombo started in his place.

Dwane Casey became the first Raptors coach in franchise history to record 200 wins with the team. He joins San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, Dallas’ Rick Carlisle and Indiana’s Frank Vogel as the only coaches to record the milestone with their current teams.

Bismack Biyombo grabbed 25 rebounds against the Pacers and set a Raptors franchise record for most rebounds in a game. Donyell Marshall had previously held the record with 24 rebounds, set during the 2003-2004 season.

Bismack Biyombo had a career-night against the Pacers, scoring a career-high 16 points to go with a career-high and franchise-record 25 rebounds in 41 minutes. He shot 5-for-6 from the floor, 6-for-11 from the free throw line, and added two blocked shots without a turnover. Toronto was a +17 when he was on the floor.

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan struggled from the floor early, but both came up big in crunch time. The duo combined for 56 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and a blocked shot against Indiana. DeRozan scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, while playing some of his best defence of the season. Lowry overcame eight turnovers in regulation to score eight of Toronto’s 16 points in overtime where he shot 3-for-4 from the floor. Despite things not going their way early, the duo kept playing and pulled out a big overtime road win in a four-games-in-five-nights stretch.

“You can’t put a number, analytics, on his spirit. 25 rebounds, setting screens, getting people open, 16 points and made some of his free throws. But his spirit just willed us to a win when everybody else was struggling.”- Dwane Casey on the play of Bismack Biyombo

57… Rebounds for the Raptors, compared to 48 for the Pacers. Credit Bismack Biyombo’s 25 boards with helping the Raptors to win the battle on the glass as Biyombo’s nine offensive rebounds tied Indiana’s total. Toronto held a 15-9 edge on the offensive glass.38… Free throw attempts for Toronto. The raptors made 30 of 38 attempts (79 percent), almost double the 16 made free throws for Indiana (in 23 attempts).24… Second chance points for the Raptors, 18 for the Pacers.71… Toronto shot 71 percent in the overtime session (5-for-7 field goals), while holding Indiana to just 27 percent shooting (3-for-11 field goals).

“I just try to do my job, I just try to continue to battle. I am happy we got the win. I thought we started off very good, but then we lost a little in the second quarter. We are still in a learning process, we are still trying to put everything together for the playoffs. At the end of the day, I just play for my teammates. I was just playing, going and getting the rebounds. I didn’t know I had that many until I got to 20. To me the numbers don’t matter. I’m glad we got the win and I am very thankful. Last time we came here they got a lot of offensive rebounds and we lost the game.”- Bismack Biyombo on his career night“We understand that someone on our team is eventually going to get hot late in the game. I started to hit some shots and then Kyle [Lowry] got going as well. Bismack [Biyombo] was great, he was a monster, going up against their whole front line.”- DeMar DeRozan on sticking with it despite early struggles“[Lowry and DeRozan] attacked one on one. The [Pacers] are one of the better defensive teams in the league and they had to go to attacking the rim, finding other people and trying to create off the dribble, which is very difficult against [the Pacers] but they found a way. We got to the free throw line. But again our defence won it. It wasn’t anything about offence, it was our defence that won the game.”- Dwane Casey, pleased with his team’s commitment on the defensive end of the floor, and with Lowry and DeRozan for fighting through an off night early

The Raptors fly back to Toronto to take on the Boston Celtics in a back-to-back at the Air Canada Centre on Friday at 7:30 P.M. ET.