TORONTO 104, INDIANA 93
Kapono shoots Raptors past Pacers
By Conrad Brunner | Dec. 14, 2007
There's hot, and there's Jason Kapono.
When a guy catches the ball above his head in the corner and simply flicks it into the basket without ever bringing it down, there's not a lot a defense can do. That's what Kapono did on his final 3-pointer of the night that sealed Toronto's 104-93 comeback victory over the Pacers before 10,437 Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse.
Kapono scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half and hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Raptors put together an 18-0 run in the final 4:55 to frustrate Pacers (11-12), who missed seven shots in a row in that span. Toronto (14-10) won its fourth in a row.
"Getting outscored 35-18 in the fourth quarter really is a bad quarter for us," said Coach Jim O'Brien. "We let the game slip away. Our defense didn't hold up. It was solid for three quarters but it didn't pay off for us down the stretch."
The Pacers appeared in control with a 66-49 lead in the third quarter but with both Jermaine O'Neal and Danny Granger forced to the bench with foul trouble, Toronto quickly scored 11 in a row to cut the deficit to six. Indiana took an 80-72 lead early in the fourth quarter on Jamaal Tinsley's 3-pointer but the offensive ball movement and defensive rotations but went stagnant thereafter.
"It hurt when we got into some foul trouble and we had to sub for Jermaine and Danny," said O'Brien. "They made a run on us and when we put those guys back in we were never able to get into the flow again."
Mike Dunleavy led the Pacers with 23 points. Tinsley scored 19 with 10 assists, Granger 15 and O'Neal 13 with just one rebound.
Chris Bosh scored 13 of his 22 in the first quarter for the Raptors, adding 16 rebounds. Jose Calderon scored 18 with 16 assists and Kris Humphries scored 17.
“They started to hit the shots that they were missing," said Tinsley. "This started in the third quarter and continued over. They made tough shots and we let them back in the game. We have got to make our adjustments as we go to stop runs and not give them open shots. We knew they were a good shooting team and they were going to make some. We missed some shots that we would ordinarily make.”
The Pacers scored six in a row midway through the fourth period to take a 90-86 lead on O'Neal's dunk but wouldn't make another basket until Tinsley's inconsequential 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining.
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