Game Rewind: Pacers 140, Raptors 123

Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00 PM ET at Scotiabank Arena

With the Eastern Conference standings shifting nightly, the Indiana Pacers are taking their final stretch of regular season contests one game at a time.

And that mentality has worked wonders for the Blue & Gold thus far.

On Tuesday night in Canada, the Pacers (46-34) posted a third straight win by beating the Toronto Raptors (25-54) 140-123 at Scotiabank Arena. 

With the win, the Pacers now trail the Cleveland Cavaliers (46-33) by just a half-game for fifth place in the East. Indiana plays at Cleveland on Thursday before wrapping up the regular season Sunday at home against the Atlanta Hawks (36-43). 

Indiana has won five of their last six games and can guarantee a playoff berth by winning their final two games. If the Pacers beat the Cavs and Hawks, the worst seed they can clinch in the playoffs is fifth.

"Every win is big," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. "Nothing is settled yet and we've got to keep ourselves ready and competing at the highest possible level."

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In a topsy-turvy first half, Toronto led 35-25 at the end of the first quarter before the Blue & Gold dropped 40 points in the second quarter to take a 65-64 intermission lead. The Pacers then scored 41 points in the third quarter to go up by 15 points, and never looked back in the final frame.

Overall, the Pacers outshot the Raptors 54.5 to 49.5 percent, including making 16 3-pointers to the Raptors’ five treys. Indiana’s bench outscored Toronto’s reserves 62-40.

All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton led six double-digit scorers for the Blue & Gold with 30 points on 10-for-16 shooting, while Obi Toppin supplied 23 points off the bench, T.J. McConnell scored 17 points, and Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner each dropped 16 for Indiana.

RJ Barrett topped the Raptors with 23 points, Kelly Olynyk had 22, and rookie Javon Freeman-Liberty recorded a career-best 20 points.

Toronto opened the game on a 15-4 scoring spree, and the Raptors led 35-25 by the end of the opening frame. Indiana struggled to handle the ball in the first 12 minutes, giving up six turnovers in the first quarter.

Following the tip, Freeman-Liberty came out on fire, notching 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting (2-for-3 3-point) for the Raptors in the first quarter.

In the first 90 seconds of action, the Raptors made their first four shots – with Freeman-Liberty going 3-for-3 for seven points – to lead 9-2. Out of a timeout, the streak extended to 15-2 after buckets by Kelly Olynyk and Barrett fell before a floater by Turner stopped the Blue & Gold bleeding.

Indiana made four straight 3-pointers midway through the first quarter to narrow the deficit, with Haliburton draining two and McConnell and Doug McDermott nailing one each to cut it to 24-21, but an 11-4 Toronto run in the final 3:15 kept the Raptors ahead by 10.

McConnell scored a trio of buckets early in the second quarter, Toppin threw down a dunk and made a 3-pointer, and Aaron Nesmith completed an and-one to help narrow the score to 49-44 with six minutes left in the half.

The Pacers then constructed a 12-4 scoring spree to make it a one-point game before a bucket by Siakam and free throws by Haliburton tied the game at 60 with 1:27 on the clock.

In the final ticks, Turner nailed a 3-pointer, and Haliburton hit a deep two to give the Pacers the one-point lead.

At the break, Freeman-Liberty had 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting to lead all scorers while Haliburton topped the visitors with 15 points.

In the third quarter, Turner recorded 10 points as the Pacers outscored the Raptors 41-27 to go up 106-91. Indiana shot 56.7 percent in the third, including 6-for-14 from 3-point range.

Out of the break, the Pacers used a 16-6 run – highlighted by 3-pointers from Andrew Nembhard and Turner and punctuated by an emphatic dunk by Haliburton and a coast-to-coast layup by Siakam – to go up 83-71 with 7:30 left in the third quarter.

The Blue & Gold lead then swelled to 99-82, and in the final 1:41 of the third period the Pacers constructed a 7-2 run, thanks to five points by Sheppard, to lead by 15 points.

In the final frame, the Raptors never made it a single-digit game, as the Pacers scored 34 points. Toppin scored 13 of his points in the fourth quarter.

The Pacers are 9-1 when recording 140 or more points in a game this season.

Obi Toppin has scored at least 10 points in five straight games off the bench for Indiana. He has also scored at least 20 points seven times this season.

Tyrese Haliburton has scored 30 or more points nine times this season.

Toronto outscored Indiana 76-66 in the paint.

At the free throw line, the Pacers made 16-of-23 attempts while the Raptors went 24-for-33.

The Pacers dished out 33 assists.

Indiana outrebounded Toronto 44-40.

"We got things back together and the bench was a big part of it. We got better as the first half went on and finished the half well. We found ourselves exactly where we were last week against Brooklyn. ... The challenge was to jump right into the third quarter, which the guys did. -- Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on first half and third quarter

"McConnell was great. Toppin was great. I thought there were a lot of guys that played well. Ty was really good, Pascal was really good, Myles had a little bit of a slow start and then had a good rhythm going." -- Carlisle on the win

"We know that he's going to be able to scramble around defensively and guard different positions. He's going to do things in our system that we need, which is to run hard, cut hard, make open shots, and move the ball. He's done a good job with the opportunities he's had." -- Carlisle on Ben Sheppard

"The beginning of the game was an example of an opportunity for growth and maturity. I don't know what our expectation was of this game, but Toronto is a team that's still playing extremely hard even though they're out of the playoffs. They hit us hard with a 9-2 run, and that's something we have to learn from." -- Carlisle on the game

"Being in the playoffs, playing meaningful basketball, means everything to me. That the reason I play. I'm always the person who plays to win." -- Pascal Siakam on the upcoming postseason

“We came out sleepwalking. They were just playing harder – more loose balls. They weren't doing anything complex, they were just playing harder. We had to lock in. I thought our second unit did a good job of waking us up. … We just have to do a better job of starting games.” – Tyrese Haliburton on overcoming the slow start

“I thought (Toppin) was unbelievable tonight. Our whole second group. T.J. (McConnell) kind of carried us that first half and we all kind of followed his lead.” – Haliburton on Toppin and McConnell

“We’re in complete control of our destiny.” – Haliburton on the remaining games

After scoring just 25 points in the first quarter, the Pacers combined for 81 in the second and third frames.

The Pacers travel to Cleveland for their final road game of the regular season on Friday, April 12 at 7:30 PM ET.

The Pacers close out the regular season by hosting Dejounte Murray and the Atlanta Hawks for the annual Fan Appreciation Game presented by Kroger on Sunday, April 14 at 1:00 PM ET. Find Tickets >>