Pacers

Holly MacKenzie

Tonight we find out who will be advancing to the second round with a deciding Game 7 at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors were unable to close out the series Friday night in Indiana and will have another shot to win their first seven-game series in franchise history. The last time these tho teams played in Toronto resulted in a thrilling fourth quarter comeback by the Raptors after trailing as many as 17 points. The Square will once again be open to fans two hours prior to tip-off.

Tip-off - 8pmDoors open - 6:30pmBroadcast info: SN | TSN1050 Radio | NBA on TNTFord Fanzone open: 6pmPregame Show: 6:30pm on NBATV Canada

Seven months ago, the Toronto Raptors wrapped their first day of training camp. Every day since then the team has worked and prepared for the postseason. Returning to Toronto after a disappointing Game 6 loss to Indiana with Game 7 set for 8 P.M. ET, the Raptors feel that earning the opportunity to play a series-deciding game on your home floor is what the regular season was about.

"It’s win or go home and that’s the difference [of a Game 7],” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “This is the finale of this series and we’re going into this one with confidence on our home court. That’s why you compete and fight for 82 games. Bottom line: we’ve earned the right to have home court. We have it for a reason.”

For the past year Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have worked for this: an opportunity to advance to the second round after first-round exits in each of the last two seasons. While there are lessons to be learned from those postseason experiences, this is a different team. 

“It’s a lot different,” DeRozan said. “Two years ago we were playing against the most veteran team you could assemble. [That team] versus a bunch of guys who never even tasted the playoffs. And you know, we grew a lot from then. And this time around the feelings are different. We’re in a different position. But it’s a new challenge for us. It’s been a long six games of this series, now it’s an opportunity in Game 7 to put everything together that we probably were struggling with. Just put it all together. You know, the last six games don’t matter. Tomorrow night matters.”

Casey spoke with his players about the importance of coming out and focusing on Sunday. Not on what happened in Game 1 or Game 3 or Game 6 or anything in between. Each contest being so different than the last makes it easier to hit the reset button and let everything else go out the window.

“One: let’s go in with a clear head,” Casey said. “Second, I said [this] in the meeting [with the team]: Push the reset button. Flush what’s happened in this series. You’ve got to go out and do what you did for 82 games [during the regular season]. You played at a high level, you played to your personality. Don’t worry about what’s happened in this series. Just come out and stick with the process and our identity: playing hard, defence first and sharing the ball on offence. Stick with it. Third: stay together. Don’t fragment, don’t listen to the noise. Play for the guy sitting next to you and stick with him. He’s the most important guy.” 

Every player in Toronto’s locker room understands what’s at stake on Sunday night. Win or start the offseason. Win or spend the summer thinking about what ifs. Lowry said he was glad there’s only one day between Games 6 and 7, and that the rest of his day will be about clearing his mind and then preparing at night. With an 8 P.M. start, guys can stick to their usual game-day schedules and just shift things ahead 30 minutes. DeRozan, the longest tenured Raptors player, said that he will spend tomorrow’s drive to the arena thinking about the game and going over what needs to be done.

Despite the pressure that comes along with Game 7, DeRozan isn’t taking the opportunity for granted.

“[Tomorrow I will be] just really living in the moment,” he said. “Because not a lot of people get this opportunity to be able to play in a Game 7, to experience what it’s like to be in such a great moment. So many people going to be watching the game, so many people are going to be outside, the crowd is going to be amazing. That type of atmosphere, you can’t duplicate.”

Lowry said Saturday’s practice session was positive and that players were attentive and engaged going over film and looking at things they can clean up. In an up and down series, he’s glad the final meeting between the two teams will be played on the Air Canada Centre court.

“We played 82 games to have this advantage,” Lowry said. “Homecourt, our fans, we already know what our fans are going to be like tomorrow and we’re going to need it. We’re going to need them disruptive, we’re going to need them loud, we’re going need them passionate, we’re going to need everything from them no matter what happens in the game. We’re going to need them to support us at all costs.”

For Casey, the biggest thing is ensuring his team plays with purpose from opening tip until final buzzer. 

“Bring to the table what you have brought to the table for 82 plus games during the season,” he said. “Don’t overthink it. Do what you do. If you are a rebounder, rebound. If you are a scorer, shoot it. Don’t overthink it. Most of all bring your hard hat and work boots and play hard. That is one thing you can control, how hard you play and how hard your motor is going for 48 minutes - not 24, not 36, but for 48.”

Throughout this series, DeRozan has talked about the beauty of the game and playoff basketball. Shortly before he exited the BioSteel Centre media room on Saturday afternoon, he was asked about finding beauty in a series that has been filled with so many twists and turns. 

"The opportunity to still be playing,” he said. “As long as we still can put that jersey on and go in that arena and play, there’s nothing more appealing than that."

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Game 7 Preview: Raptors vs. Pacers

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DeMar DeRozan drilled a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds remaining to put Toronto up five. After leading throughout the second half, the Raptors weathered a late push by the Indiana Pacers to hold on for the 89-84 Game 7 victory and win the series 4-3.

The Raptors came out focused and showed little nerves as they shot 50 percent from the floor in the first quarter and built a five-point lead behind a 13-point effort from DeMar DeRozan.

Toronto’s shooting percentage dipped to 41 percent in the second quarter as Indiana stepped up it’s defence, but Toronto still managed to outscore the Pacers by one and go into the half with a six-point advantage.

Third quarters have not been kind to the Raptors in this series, but they turned up the intensity when they came out for the second half on Sunday night. Outscoring Indiana 28-20 thanks to a flurry of 3-pointers from Patrick Patterson, (who was 3-for-4 from deep in the quarter) and DeMarre Carroll, Toronto went into the fourth ahead by 14.

With the season on the line, the Pacers came out firing in the final quarter. After turning the ball over five times though the first three quarters, Toronto had four turnovers in the fourth quarter as they also struggled to score. When a Monta Ellis 3-pointer cut the lead to three, Kyle Lowry responded with a layup. When a pair of Paul George free throws again brought the Pacers within three, DeMar DeRozan got a steal and was fouled with 6.5 seconds remaining. DeRozan sealed the game by hitting both free throws as the Air Canada Centre crowd erupted.

DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 30 points in 40 minutes of action. DeRozan started out hot, cooled a bit in the second quarter and then went on a tear in the third quarter where he scored 13 points as Toronto built it’s largest lead of the game. In addition to his scoring, DeRozan added five rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocked shots. H was also a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.

Rookie Norman Powell led all reserves with a 13-point performance off the bench. Powell was calm, cool and collected in his first Game 7, playing 23 minutes, shooting 5-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc while adding three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot.

“It felt normal. Me and Kyle were in the gym here last night about 10, 11 o’clock. Nobody was in here, just the t-shirts laid out on the chairs. That’s when you put it in. You think about that moment where there’s nobody in the gym with you. There’s no pressure. I just wanted to knock that down for my team and go from there with it.”DeMar DeRozan on knocking down the two free throws that sealed the win

49…Rebounds for the Raptors who were a +11 on boards in the game. Toronto also held an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass.

17…Free throw attempts for Toronto, compared to eight for the Pacers. The Raptors connected on 13 of 17 attempts (77 percent), while Indiana made seven of its eight attempts (88 percent).

9…Turnovers for Toronto leading to nine Pacers points. Indiana turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 18 points for the Raptors.

15…Rebounds for Jonas Valanciunas who had an 11-point, 15-rebound double-double.

9…Assists for Kyle Lowry who just missed out on his own double-double, with 11 points, nine assists, four rebounds and a steal in 38 minutes.

“It means a lot. You have to think about it. Ever guying that locker room does everything together. We’re raising our families together, battling together, going to war together. Having good days and bad days. You have to gain that trust with one another because it’s a brotherhood that we have. Every time we go out there and play for one another, that’s what it’s all about.” DeMar DeRozan on the importance of the team’s trust for one another through a long series.

“I think the intensity the way Norm plays, it doesn’t matter who he’s playing against, where he’s playing at. He’s going to be physical, he’s going to be always touching, always going to be keeping a hand on him. We fed off that energy of Norm. He made big shots and was coming down playing good defence. When you expend the amount of energy he did on both ends of the floor, you want to just keep him energized.”Kyle Lowry on the boost provided by Norman Powell

“No. This is one of the biggest games of my career so far. I was just telling myself to not get involved in what people were talking about, it being Game 7 and the chatter of us not making it past the first round. Just going out and playing and rising to the occasion, making plays that are going to help the team win.”Norman Powell when asked if he’d played in a bigger game before

“Myself and Cory come from teams with a tradition of depending on everyone. I felt like this series showed that everyone in this locker room was depended on and that's what we had to do. We had to come out as a team. DeMar DeRozan wasn't going to beat this team alone. Kyle Lowry wasn't going to beat this team on his own. It had to be a group effort.”DeMarre Carroll on the series win being a team effort and everyone stepping up

The Raptors will kick off round two against the third-seeded Miami Heat at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday at 8 P.M. ET.

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Game Rap: Raptors 89, Pacers 84

Toronto (52-26) finishes up a back-to-back at home tonight versus Indiana (42-36). The Raptors returned to TO last night after a defeat in Atlanta, while the Pacers are in town trying to prolong their three-game winning streak as they fight to secure a playoff spot.

Paul George – George enters tonight’s game fresh off a 29 point, five rebound performance in a win over the Cavaliers two days ago. Despite his recent strong play, the Raptors have done a solid job defending the Pacers All-Star forward this season, holding  him to 30% shooting in the teams’ previous three matchups.

Delon Wright&lt;/strong – With two games in less then 24 hours, Dwane Casey may look to hand the fringe players and rookies some minutes in an attempt to avoid burnout. Wright’s name was called when the Raps faced the Spurs in San Antonio last weekend and responded with a sound performance, recording 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

The silver lining in last night’s loss to the Hawks was the return of offseason acquistion, DeMarre Carroll.

Raps fans have been eagerly awaiting seeing Carroll back in the lineup ever since he was sidelined after knee surgery at the beginning of 2016.

With only four games remaining in the regular season, the hope was to get Carroll back integrated into the lineup and as close to game shape as possible ahead of the playoffs.

Casey brought his small-forward off the bench last night and gave him 14 minutes to try and shake off the cobwebs. Carroll was his typical self, recording a team-high 4 steals, and expressed his relief at being back, to the media after the game.

“It felt good. I got out there and did what I’m supposed to do and that’s to be active, do the dirty work and try to get steals and play good defence.”

His Raptors teammates were just as happy to have their running mate back on the court battling alongside them.

“That’s a big lift. That’s one of our key players on this team and just to have him back in the rotation is nothing but a positive for us,” said DeMar DeRozan.

The coaching staff has coped without their starting small forward for the majority of the season yet Casey says they will remain patient and free of expectations until Carroll is back up to speed.

“It’s just going to take some time. We don’t expect him to come in and change the world right off the bat."

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Game Day: Raptors vs. Pacers

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.

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Game Rap: Raptors 101, Pacers 94

Toronto (45-21) tips off their second back-to-back of the week tonight in Indiana (36-31). The undermanned Raptors took care of business in Milwaukee Tuesday, while the Pacers secured a big home win over the No. 3 team in the East, Boston.

Jordan Hill – The Raptors have played Indiana twice this season and on both occasions were able to keep their key players, George and Ellis, relatively quiet. Reserve forward Hill gave Toronto problems, averaging a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Hill was especially impressive in their last meeting in Indiana, putting up 20 points and 13 rebounds, both tying season-highs.

Bismack Biyombo&lt;/strong – In the absence of starting centre Jonas Valanciunas, Biyombo responded Tuesday night by sparking a third quarter surge in a comfortable Raptors victory. The 23-year old finished the game with 12 points, 13 rebounds and two emphatic blocks on Jabari Parker dunk attempts in one possession. Biyombo is averaging eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks in two games versus the Pacers this season.

Following an impressive display against Milwaukee, the story of Norman Powell continues to be a win for the underdogs.

Selected with the 46th pick in the second round of last year’s NBA Draft, Powell has been on a mission to prove people wrong, especially the teams who decided to pass on him last June.

Rarely do second-round picks assert themselves as quickly as Powell has, or even at all, in an ultra competitive NBA. A combination of hard work and biding his time has landed the 24-year old opportunities to show the Raptors coaching staff what he can do.

With DeRozan resting Tuesday night, Powell replaced the All-Star shooting guard in the starting lineup and turned in his best performance in a Raptors uniform with a career-high 17 points in 35 minutes.

"I was just trying to be aggressive, play within the flow of the offence, and get to my spots on the floor like I do in practice that I work on with (coaches) Stackhouse and Jama every day,” said Powell after the game. He also mentioned a change in comfort level on the floor from early on in the season. “My first couple starts I was really nervous out there. Just not trying to shoot too much and just figuring out when to pass, when to drive.”

All-Star point guard Lowry was full of praise for the rookie. “I think he’s a very talented kid and tonight he showed what he can do.”

Lowry went on to attribute Powell’s strong play to his attention to detail off the court. “He’s just like a sponge right now. He takes it all in. Every little bit of information, he takes it in.”

Finding opportunities is never easy playing behind DeRozan, but the UCLA graduate has shown he’s willing to be patient, learn from his teammates and to be ready when his number’s called.

For an in-depth look on Powell’s impact so far with the Raptors, check out Holly MacKenzie’s feature piece here.

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Game Day: Raptors @ Pacers

Dwane Casey pulled his starters with 3:27 remaining and the Indiana Pacers leading by 25 points. The Raptors found themselves trailing after Indiana recovered from a sluggish start and they weren’t able to respond. Toronto suffered a 106-90 loss that wasn’t as close as the final score made it appear and fall to 16-10 with the loss.

The Raptors got off to a fantastic start against the Pacers, jumping out to a quick 26-5 lead. Thanks to turnovers and Indiana stepping up their energy on the defensive end, things quickly unraveled for Toronto and the Pacers reeled off a 22-0 run to get back into the game as part of a larger 39-4 run to blow the game open.

DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting to go with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. DeRozan made two of three attempts from beyond the arc and four of five free throws in 38 minutes.

Bismack Biyombo scored nine points and hauled down 13 rebounds (five offensive) to go with a steal and two blocked shots against the Pacers. Biyombo shot 1-for-3 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

“It’s just one of them games. We came out with a lot of energy. After that it was a fight for us. It was a mental mistakes game. We couldn’t get rebounds, we couldn’t get stops when we needed to and we couldn’t score. A combination of everything, it’s very seldom we have nights like this and we’ve got to make sure nights like this don’t happen again.”- DeMar DeRozan on the quick start and then blowout loss

21… Turnovers for the Raptors, compared to 14 for the Pacers.48… Points in the paint scored by Indiana, more than doubling the 20 points in the paint scored by Toronto.37… Percent shooting for the Raptors, who played like they were on a back to back. The Pacers made 48 percent of their shots. The Raptors shot 55 percent in the first quarter, 20 percent in a dreadful second quarter, 32 percent in the third and 37 percent in the fourth.3… Toronto made just three of 15 field goals in the second quarter where they were outscored 25-13 as the Pacers took a 52-41 lead at the half.14… Fast break points for the Pacers, while the Raptors managed just three.

"We shot ourselves in the foot. We ran out of gas, but we can’t have 22 turnovers, one hand passes, playing in mud, not going anywhere, not being assertive. You can't beat good teams in this league playing that way.”- Dwane Casey on his team’s performance“It’s one of those games where it’s like that. It seems like no matter what you do, you’re still fighting, you tell yourself to fight a little bit harder, and it feels like nothing is changing. Everybody in the league has games like that, we’ve got to realize we’ve got a day off tomorrow, we’ve a practice day, we’ve got to get off our feet, get our rest and be ready for Charlotte.”- DeMar DeRozan looking ahead to Thursday’s game against the Hornets“We tried everything we could defensively, offensively. Those things happen. Taking care of the ball helps. Don't throw the ball away to them, throw it to your teammates. That would start a lot of it.”- Dwane Casey on how the team could have slowed the unraveling of the first quarter“Overall it’s a learning process. Mistakes are going to be made. It’s a long season. We’ll learn from it. Obviously, we’ve got a game coming up in Charlotte. We’ve just got to focus on the next one. The feeling is different when yowu lose a game like that from the jump. The way we started, and when things turned south we tried to get back into it and we couldn’t do it.”- Bismack Biyombo on learning from Monday’s mistakes, but looking toward what’s next

The Raptors head to Charlotte for the second game of their three-game trip to face the Hornets at 7 P.M. ET.

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Game Rap: Raptors 90, Pacers 106

The Raptors (16-9) are back on the road, beginning tonight in Indiana (13-9). Toronto took care of business last night by defeating Philadelphia to extend their winning streak to four. The Pacers await the Raps after a day off yesterday following a loss in Detroit Saturday night.

Paul George – Prior to a horrific leg break on duty with Team USA, Paul George was a budding NBA superstar. The injury was so serious that some may have doubted whether the Fresno State product could return to the same heights when he eventually returned to the court. Well it looks like he has done just that this season. He has rejuvenated a Pacers team that finished 38-44 last year. George is currently ranked fourth in the league in scoring (27 ppg) and second amongst small forwards in rebounding (8 rpg) behind only Kevin Durant.

DeMar DeRozan – Stay hot DeMar. After another stellar performance last night, the Raptors All-Star is now shooting 52% over his last four games as well as 34-37 from the FT line. It’s then no surprise that Toronto has won all four of those games and will look to keep their winning streak alive tonight against a tough Pacers team.

With more than a quarter of the season in the books, the standings are starting to take shape. Teams are jockeying for position, especially in a tight Eastern Conference where only five games separate 1st from 11th.

Tonight’s matchup between the Raptors (2nd) and Pacers (5th) sees two of the top teams in the East square off with only a game and a half between them.

Toronto is 8-5 on the road with half of those wins coming against teams in their own conference. On the flip side, Indiana boasts a perfect 6-0 record at home versus teams in the East.

These two met on opening day with the Raptors emerging victorious led by 25 points from DeRozan and 15 rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas. George was the key man that day for Indiana recording 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Since October 28th, both teams have lost nine games with Toronto having played and won three more contests than Indiana.

The Pacers boast a top five league scorer in George while DeRozan and Lowry represent more than 41 points per game combined for the Raptors.

Everything points to a tight contest tonight with the small exception of the teams' recent form, Toronto has won four in a row and Indiana enters tonight having dropped four of five.

Watch the game highlights from 10/28 here.

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Jonas Valanciunas hit two clutch free throws with 37 seconds remaining to put the Raptors ahead 102-97. Thanks to late-game heroics from DeRozan and made free throws down the stretch, the Raptors were able to hang on to complete the comeback 106-99 victory after trailing by 16 points in the first half.

After scoring just 37 points in the first half, Toronto exploded in the third, outscoring Indiana 35-23 behind a 10-point quarter from Kyle Lowry.  The Raptors closed the quarter on an 11-2 run, kicked off by five points from Lowry and a Lowry assisted three-pointer by Patrick Patterson to turn a five-point deficit into a four-point advantage going into the fourth.

Luis Scola joined Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas in the starting lineup in the season opener against his former team. In two seasons with the Pacers, Scola averaged 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He was scoreless on Wednesday night, but grabbed eight rebounds in 18 minutes.

DeRozan turned around a frustrating 0-for-6 start with a 10-point fourth quarter effort, including two huge buckets in crunch time to keep the Raptors in front of the Pacers. DeRozan finished with 25 points on 7-for-17 field goals to go with six assists and four rebounds.

Jonas Valanciunas was fantastic against the Pacers, scoring 21 points (8-for-11 field goals), to go with a game-high 15 rebounds and one block in 33 minutes. Valanciunas will be taking on a bigger role this season and he came up big when it mattered, making two free throws to extend the lead and then another to close out the scoring with 12 seconds remaining.

DeMarre Carroll seemed to be everywhere all at once on Wednesday night. Returning after briefly leaving the game with an elbow contusion in the first half, Carroll played a game-high 41 minutes in his Raptors debut, and — in addition to forcing Paul George into a 4-for-17 night from the floor — finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“We made a conscious effort to come out with more energy. We were playing at home in front of the home crowd and I really think our crowd brought us back into the game. Without our crowd I don't think we would have gotten back into the game. You know, that’s the Toronto Raptors fans, right?”- DeMarre Carroll on the third-quarter turnaround and the impact of the crowd

50… Rebounds for the Raptors who were able to outrebound the Pacers by 10.

21… Turnovers for Toronto compared to just 13 for Indiana. The Raptors registered more turnovers than assists (19), and will aim to get that number down as the roster continues to get comfortable with one another.

22… Second chance points for Toronto, compared to just 10 for Indiana.

“That’s exactly why he’s here. He brings that toughness and that defensive mindset with the things he’s able to do offensively, but his mindset is always to go out there and guard the best players, and he did a hell of a job tonight.” - DeMar DeRozan on the impact of DeMarre Carroll returning after a tough fall to put in a strong defensive performance

“Man, I thought I broke my elbow. One of my teammates always told me, when you do a hard fall, to get your breath because you don't want to hop up. If my arm was dangling, I probably would have fainted. I just laid there for a minute. I got a contusion, so it’s one of those things you’ve just got to keep icing. I can’t let one little elbow keep me out when I was playing on one leg in the Eastern Conference Finals.” - DeMarre Carroll on the elbow injury after the hard fall in the first half

“I’m happy for my young man. I’ve seen him grow from a little kid to, he’s got a full beard and everything now. He’s getting rebounds. That’s what he does. I’m happy for him and [hope he] continues to build on that.” - DeMar DeRozan on a big night for Jonas Valanciunas

“We definitely feed off of him. Once he gets it going we all understand we’ve got to follow behind him. Whether it’s a stop or cutting and getting somebody open, we’ve got to feed off that." - DeMar DeRozan on the team feeding off Kyle Lowry’ when he goes into attack mode.

“I will admit that we were nervous to start the game. Not knowing who we are and how we were going to play together. We settled down and started taking the shots that were there.” - Kyle Lowry on the energy the third quarter

“I could miss 100 in a row. When it comes down to the last shot all them guys trust me to take it and I’m still confident like I made 100 in a row taking that last shot. I’ve grown when it comes to situations like that feeling more comfortable. I was out there shooting free throws like Shaq so I’ve got to be better at that.” - DeMar DeRozan on coming through late after a rough first half

The Raptors will play their first road game of the season in Boston where they will take on former Raptor Amir Johnson and the Celtics on Friday night at 7:30 PM. ET.

Pacers

Game 7 Preview: Raptors vs. Pacers

Game Rap: Raptors 89, Pacers 84

Game Day: Raptors vs. Pacers

Game Rap: Raptors 101, Pacers 94

Game Day: Raptors @ Pacers

Game Rap: Raptors 90, Pacers 106

Game Day: Raptors @ Pacers

Game Rap: Raptors 106, Pacers 99