2016 Playoffs

indmmontieth

Have a question for Mark? Want it to be on Pacers.com? Email him at askmontieth@gmail.com and you could be featured in his next mailbag.

Q. What do you think about the Pacers electing not to renew Frank Vogel's contract? Wrong move? Right move?

A. This obviously was a tough call for Larry Bird, who was as emotional as I've ever seen him during Thursday's press conference. Bird was a hard-nosed player, but he's a sensitive man who cares about other people's feelings.

Let's start with the obvious fact Vogel is a good person, a unanimous opinion. His story is impressive, lifting himself from Division III point guard to NBA coach through initiative, persistence and years of grinding in the darkness of the video room. And, his record speaks for itself. He had fortunate timing with the Pacers, taking over a team on the rise, one that got a lot better his second season when they signed David West, but his teams generally performed to expectations and sometimes beyond. He took consecutive teams to the conference finals, no small accomplishment, and, in my opinion, lost both times to a better team. The 2013 team was too young to beat the Heat, and Roy Hibbert's collapse made it nearly impossible to get to the Finals in 2014.

There were legitimate reasons for concern going forward, however. The halfcourt offense didn't click. It was too often stagnant, even in Game 7 of the playoff series with Toronto this year. His teams often failed to come up with good shots on crucial late-game possessions, and struggled to hold fourth-quarter leads. Not all of that can be placed on the coach, but some of it can. I also saw a lax atmosphere around the team at times. Not enough discipline, and not enough energy. It didn't even take the court together for pre-game warmups.

And, there's Bird's argument that players tune out a coach after awhile. He says he saw some of that. I can't speak to that, because I didn't watch practice and I wasn't in the locker room when he was talking with the players. Contrary to what some have written, I think that's a valid argument. It's not just what Bird experienced as a player, it's what he experienced as a coach. Keep in mind, no Pacers coach before Vogel had lasted more than four years. And in each case, their last season wasn't pretty. They had burned out or been tuned out, and the next coach nearly always made things better right away. I'd say that supports Bird's argument.

People need to understand, the question wasn't whether to bring back Vogel next season, it was whether to bring him back for three or four more seasons. His contract was up, so the choice was whether to make another longtime commitment or not. You couldn't just give him a one-year extension.

I think reasonable people can agree it's a really tough call, and can be argued either way. There are nuances to it, which is why the enraged vitriol from columnists and radio talkers blasting Bird surprised me, although it shouldn't have. It was almost amusing to read or hear the passionate anti-Bird screeds from some of the same people I heard criticize Vogel so frequently throughout the season. And let's be honest, had Vogel been signed to a long-term contract and the team didn't improve next season, those same people would have criticized Bird for bringing him back.

There's also the fact Bird and other front office members know more than we do about what goes on within the organization. They have access to more information, see more, hear more. Rather than point out all those things publicly, a good manager falls on his sword and takes the heat. There have been several times I wondered about a decision made within the Pacers organization but years later learned something that made it easily understood. This happened just the other day, in fact, when Donnie Walsh gave me the background of his decision to fire someone in the 80s.

No question, Vogel did a good job. No question, no coach is perfect. The next one might be better than him in some areas, but could be worse in others. It's a demanding, difficult job, and even the Hall of Famers had flaws. The bottom line is that not giving Vogel a new contract was the right move if the next coach makes things better, and the wrong move if he doesn't. Or, maybe it would only mean the wrong coach was hired. This all will take time to learn.

Q. Do you think this series with the Raptors opened the Pacers' eyes about playing with a spread four? It seemed they were much better with Myles at the center spot and Solomon Hill running the four  position?

After a long year for the Pacers, one thing is evident and that is Paul George still doesn't have the Robin to his Batman. Is it time to bring Monta off the bench and secure a three and a defensive two-guard?

A. I don't think any eyes were opened. The motivation to play a spread lineup and a faster tempo came largely as a result of needing to trade Hibbert and losing David West. They had already decided to trade Roy Hibbert, but West leaving forced their hand. They played small pretty successfully early on, until C.J. Miles got beat up. Then, as Myles Turner emerged, it only made sense to start him and go with a bigger lineup. I think Vogel remained flexible, going smaller when match-ups called for it, as any coach would do.

Ultimately, it depends on your personnel. There's more than one way to win; it comes down to having the right players for whatever style you play. I wouldn't be surprised to see a smaller lineup next season, but only if it makes sense for their personnel.

I think the Batman and Robin thing gets overplayed. You need more than one great player to contend for a championship, that's the point. Myles Turner certainly appears to have the potential to be part of such a tandem. Whether or not to start Monta Ellis will have to play itself out. If his performance drops off too much, he'll have to come off the bench. George Hill is a good defensive two-guard, and Paul George is already the "three," although we get too hung up on numbers.

The challenge simply is to find the best five-man combination they can get and build chemistry. That could be a "small" lineup or a "big" one, but we'll have to see how the roster breaks down.

Q. I think everyone would agree that Paul George had a terrific comeback season. My concern while watching him this season was that he wasn't elevating and finishing at the rim like he used to. It's reasonable to think that would be the case considering the injury he had. Has there been talks about this being a concern moving forward? Appreciate your work.

A. I don't think the drop-off was too great. You probably saw a few 360-degree dunks this season, so he can still get up. As the season went on, it seemed he was more willing to attack the basket and draw fouls, especially in the playoffs.

I haven't heard of any great concern about his future health. George said during the season he didn't have all his explosiveness back, but expected to have it by next season. What he has now seems to be enough.

Q. When will the Pacers give more minutes to Glenn Robinson and Joe Young?

A. In Summer League for sure, and next season, perhaps.

I understand people wanting to see more of them. Both showed great potential, at times. But I don't believe either was a better choice for playing time in the playoffs or other important games than whomever was ahead of them. You can go back and practice revisionist history and say they should have played in place of whichever guy had a bad game, but that's not qualified criticism.

I thought Robinson had a chance to be in the rotation this season after watching him become the second-leading scorer in the pre-season. I wrote a major story on him, and kept going back to his "intrigue." He had his chances, even starting four consecutive games on a Western road trip in January, but didn't take advantage. He hit 6-of-21 shots in those games, and seemed to lack confidence. That's understandable, but the knock against him has always been that he defers too much. He'll need to overcome that at some point, without becoming selfish. A fine line, I know. He's a genuinely nice man, but he would be well-served to be less nice on the court.

Young played well off the bench in the first three games of the same road stretch in which Robinson started in January, scoring in double figures each time and accumulating 20 assists against six turnovers. He faded after that, and he certainly wasn't a better choice at point guard than Monta Ellis, George Hill or Ty Lawson late in the season. Experience counts for a lot, particularly with point guards. He remains a promising player, but needs to gain maturity and toughness.

Q. I am curious about your take on the future of Solomon Hill and if you think he figures in the Pacers' future plans? Personally, I really hope he remains part of the Pacers' plans going forward, here is why.

Firstly his demeanor, his attitude, his basketball IQ, his leadership (yes I think he has on/off court potential leadership). He is a great professional, he is a hard worker, has great energy and is a very good and flexible defender. If you look at how he has played himself back in the rotation and proven himself an important part of the Pacers. He has been really good over the last half of the season and is actually shooting really good percentages post-all star (50% from the field and 41% from 3-point range). I think they should offer him a reasonable contract.

What is your take on his future with the Pacers, or if not with the Pacers where could you see him fit in?

A. Hill had one of the more interesting seasons I've ever seen from a player.

His poor performance in  Summer League didn't help, but Larry Bird knew better than to put too much emphasis on that. It's sometimes difficult for more established players such as Hill (who started 78 games last season) to blend in with rookies and younger players. It's almost as if they know they don't belong there and either feel awkward about it or don't want to try too hard for fear of showing up the kids. Bird saw that happen with Jalen Rose, who volunteered to play in Summer League shortly after Bird took over as coach in 1997, but then played poorly. It didn't predict how Rose's career with the Pacers would go, though, just as Hill's Summer League didn't predict his upcoming season.

Bird said in Thursday's press conference that Hill's attitude and work ethic waned over the summer and fall. You also have to consider that Glenn Robinson III and Chase Budinger were full of intrigue at the time. Robinson was young and athletic and seemed to have vast potential. He backed that up by being the second-leading scorer in the pre-season. Budinger reportedly was the star of the September intrasquad scrimmages and was a more established player than Hill and seemed to be recovered from his two knee surgeries.

The Pacers elected not to offer Hill an extension to his rookie contract. I was surprised, given what he had done the previous season as a 78-game starter, but there were things I didn't know at the time. I don't remember an outcry of protest on his behalf. In hindsight that looks like a mistake, but Bird's comments on Thursday offer perspective.

Q. Do refs get fined (for mistakes in playoff games)?

A. You are referring to the NBA's admission after Game 7 in Toronto that a couple of mistakes were made in calls that went against the Pacers. The NBA has become more transparent this season, providing reports about missed calls in the final two minutes of games. The Pacers seemed to be on the wrong end of those mistakes far more often than the right end.

The NBA does not announce fines and suspensions, but occasionally word gets out. Marc Stein once wrote about Steve Javie getting fined. Referees also can be suspended for inappropriate behavior. Joey Crawford, for example, was suspended in 2007 for shouting at Tim Duncan on the bench in San Antonio. Crawford also once kicked Reggie Miller out of a game in Atlanta, when Miller was on the bench.

So, I believe the answer to your question is yes.

Q. Did you forget about the overtime loss to L.A. In Game 4 of the 2000 Finals, or the Game 7 loss to Chicago in the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals? In my 25 years of traveling to Indy to watch the Pacers, the worst loss for me was Game 5 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals to Detroit at home with the series tied 2-2. I actually went to Detroit with my son to watch us even the series at 2-2. Then we played poorly at home to lose Game 5. Huge disappointment, monumental loss.

A. You are referring to my article after the Pacers lost Game 5 in Toronto, when they blew that 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. I wrote that yes it was, to use your terminology, "huge" and "monumental." But it wasn't nearly as bad as any loss in the conference finals or finals, especially those on the home court, and the Pacers had a history of bouncing back from those losses.

They did this time as well, winning Game 6 in Indianapolis and nearly winning Game 7 in Toronto.

I bet they would, indeed. But I think the odds of the Pacers making such a deal are infinitesimal. And yes, I had to look up the spelling of infinitesimal. George is a star, maybe a superstar depending on your definition of "superstar," and is just 26 years old. You need great players to contend for a championship and the Pacers have one in George. You don't get rid of those guys unless you're getting greatness back.

You never say anyone can't be traded. I imagine we could come up with some deals that make sense for LeBron James or Steph Curry, but we know it's not going to happen. It's not difficult to get good players in the NBA, but it's very difficult to get great ones. When you have one, you hang on to him for dear life for as long as you think he's not in decline.

Q. When are the kid gloves gonna come off with Bird?

A. This was a random comment on Twitter, but I thought it was worth discussing.

I've never understood the opinion that Bird is treated with kid gloves. I can make a better argument he's unfairly criticized. That's often true for all general managers and team presidents in the wake of a frustrating or disappointing finish to the season, but let's review:

Bird took over the team when a major rebuild was inevitable. He was patient, made a few good moves, caught a break or two (such as David West wanting to come to the Pacers) and put together a team that reached the conference finals in consecutive seasons. Nobody was complaining about him then.

Then Paul George had a major injury and other players had lesser injuries, and they missed the playoffs last season. Most people understood that. Then Roy Hibbert grew frustrated with his role, thinking his All-Star status made him deserving of more touches, spoke out about it and went south. Bird traded him, to the delight of most Pacers fans. Then David West decided to finish his career with a team more likely to contend for a championship, forcing a major rebuild. The Pacers reached the playoffs this past season, and exceeded the expectations of most. I didn't hear of anyone predicting more than 45 wins or progressing beyond the first round of the playoffs.

So, what did Bird do wrong? Public sentiment – at least that part of it on social media – is against him at the moment, and the reaction to Thursday's announcement that he was not renewing Vogel's contract has inspired invective from every corner of the media – including some members who had plenty of criticism for Vogel throughout the season but now see him as a victim.

To say Bird is treated with kid gloves is a tired cliché and laughable when explored. He's been hammered every season but a few, and often for things outside of his control. His fame makes him a target far more than it grants him immunity.

You can go back and pick over drafts and find mistakes. You can do that with every team president. Ultimately they all stand on their record, but people at least need to be able to discern what's within and beyond their realm of control.

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Indiana Pacers. All opinions expressed by Mark Montieth are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Indiana Pacers, their partners, or sponsors.

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Mark's Mailbag: Looking Ahead to Next Season

You could see him growing before your very eyes. Not just the play on the court, but the conversations in the locker room or after practice. Not just the obligatory season-ending comments, but the serious demeanor in more private moments.

Paul George matured during the Pacers' first-round playoff loss to Toronto, providing the franchise's best hope for improvement. Well, that and Myles Turner's promising rookie season. But teams need multiple All-Stars, if not superstars, to win championships, and they need those stars to inject life into their teams rather than drain them. The Pacers appear to have such a player in George, who turned 26 on Monday and is under contract for two more seasons – three if he picks up the player option on the final year of the deal.

Throughout most of his regular season, George seemed more focused on his comeback from the broken leg suffered on Aug. 1, 2014, which kept him out of all but six games last season. He started out sensationally, earning Player of the Month honors in November, then drifted in and out of his version of mediocrity, then closed strong. By the playoffs, he had mostly come full circle and was back to playing in full bloom.

PLAYOFF CENTRAL: See more from the 2016 Playoffs at Pacers.com/Playoffs »

He averaged 27.3 points in the seven-game series with the Raptors, hitting 45.5 percent of his field goal attempts, 42 percent of his three-pointers and 95 percent of his foul shots. He averaged 7.6 rebounds, too, along with 4.3 assists. He also made life miserable for Toronto's All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan, who averaged 17.9 points in the series – 5.6 points below his regular season average – and hit just 32 percent of his field goals.

The best thing to come out of the series for the Pacers, though, was George taking a step forward as the leader and go-to player. Two and three seasons ago, when they reached the Eastern Conference Finals, he was the precocious and promising kid who had older brothers in David West, Roy Hibbert and George Hill to lead the way. He just had to play. With this team, he had to carry the greatest burden and lead, too.

"It's...about being the one willing to do anything and everything, being the most physical guy out there," he said before the series ended. "I think my teammates have been drawn to the way I've approached this series. I'll be the one to make the first leap and have them follow."

Being a leader sometimes means saying the right things, too, both to teammates and to the media. George, who has two older sisters, has always seemed more comfortable staying in the background, being cooperative, and following the lead of older teammates. The same was true with Reggie Miller, who grew up with two older brothers and an older sister.

George, however, stepped forward at the end of this season. Once content to let Monta Ellis be the vocal leader, he eventually latched onto that role. Now, it seems there's no doubt who leads the team. That's partly because George is far more comfortable talking with the media than the introverted Ellis – he was voted the inaugural winner of the Mel Daniels Award, given to the Pacers player who displays the best media cooperation, by the local chapter of the Professional Basketball Writers Association –  but also because his performances in the postseason practically demanded that he become more vocal.

"Been forced to," he said on Saturday, before the team flew to Toronto for Game 7. "I'm a talkative person so it's an easy transition, one I feel comfortable with."

It's not just talking, though. It's attitude. More than ever George showed the attitude of a leader. One simple statement following Game 7 seemed telling.

He never would have said that in past seasons, but it crept into his conversations in this one. If he now views his teammates as "his guys," that's a good thing, as long as he continues to go about his business and his game the proper way. This series might have been a precursor rather than a peak.

"There's a lot to take away from it," he said. "The game really slowed down and I had a better understanding of my game. I learned a lot. I learned what I was made of. There's so much to take away from this series."

Toronto coach Dwayne Casey was impressed, as he should have been after seeing his own All-Star fail to match up with George.

"Unbelievable," Casey said afterward. "I tell you what, I remember trying to prepare for a young Kobe Bryant. And this young man reminds me of trying to prepare for a young Kobe Bryant back in the Laker days, like I was back in Seattle. I think he's back and I'm happy for him. Now that we're finished with him, I'm happy for him because he's a super young man. He represents everything basketball should be about."

George faces new challenges now. He'll continue to be bombarded with the trappings of fame, something he admittedly struggled with two years ago. He'll need to keep his ego in check and his work ethic unleashed. It wouldn't be a horrible idea for him to meet with Miller sometime to talk about that. The two have more and more in common, and George has the potential to exceed Miller's career because of his superior athleticism.

He'll need to be at his best in the most crucial moments, but keep in mind Miller's breakthrough playoff moment – his 25-point fourth quarter against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden – didn't come until his seventh season, when he was three months shy of 29 years old.

When you compare their postseason resumes after five years in the playoffs, George matches up well, despite being younger and a less relied-upon team member in his first two playoff experiences.

George's most recent series against the Raptors matches up even more favorably to, although it was lacking Miller's flair for ultra-dramatic moments. He's just 26, though, so time remains an ally. And there's another vital similarity. George has improved his scoring and shooting percentages in the playoffs from the regular season in his last three appearances. That's a rarity, given the improved level of competition and the grind of the playoffs, but a knack Miller also displayed.

The Pacers clearly need to add more pieces before they can contend for a championship. But the most difficult one to get is in place, and more prepared than ever to lead.

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"My Guys": George Embraces Role as Team's Leader

Well, at least it was an appropriate ending. A close loss, with failure to execute in the most crucial moments of the fourth quarter.

Pacers fans saw that too many times during the season, but the bottom line is this: the team at the very least met all expectations, both in the season and the playoffs, and exceeded many. Amid all the near-misses and lost opportunities, all the arguments for why the season could have been better, that's the epitaph following their Game 7 loss in Toronto on Sunday.

I predicted 45 wins before the season began (it's in writing, even, in a mailbag) and they won 45. I don't know of anybody who predicted more, and it would be foolish to be harshly critical of a seventh-seeded team for not upsetting a second-seeded team that has more battle-tested.

That's hard to believe sometimes in the wake of a Game 7 loss in which you know the Pacers could have played better, but Toronto was the more underachieving team in this series. Look around the league, and every playoff loser faces the same doubts and frustrations after the fact. Charlotte, a team better than the Pacers during the season, lost at Miami, a team not as good as Toronto during the season, by 33 points on Sunday in their Game 7. So it goes.

The Pacers outscored Toronto by 10 points over the course of the series, and shot better, too. Their only shortcoming was rebounding. They gave up an average of five per game. They had nobody who could move Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo out of the way and gave up far too many second-chance points. If not for that one element, the Pacers would have flown to Miami after Sunday's game instead of Indianapolis.

Sure, the Pacers often looked as if they were the better team during the series, but there was a reason the Raptors won 56 games and the Pacers 45 in the regular season. Experience and chemistry, mostly, and that's what carried them to their 89-84 victory at Air Canada Centre. I said it many times during the season and Paul George reiterated it after the game: this was a first-year team. It had six new players on its playoff roster and started a 20-year-old rookie. Those kind of teams have built-in limitations.

This wasn't the Pacers team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals two and three seasons ago. It wasn't the Pacers team that reached the conference finals five times in the seven-year span from 1994-2000, and again in 2004. Those teams had made gradual progressions toward their final four appearances. This was more like the Pacers team from, say, 1991, when Reggie Miller was a fourth-year pro. They took Boston to the limit in a best-of-five first-round series but succumbed to their lack of experience.

The postgame conversations on Sunday reminded me of those three years ago, when a young team making its first extended playoff run lost to Miami in Game 7 of the conference finals. The players were disappointed, but couldn't muster anger.

"Heck of a run," Paul George said Sunday.

"If they had told me I would have a chance to lead my team the first year back from injury, give us a chance to advance to the second round...and then have to go against five different defenders and figure how to score and make plays as well as guard...if you had told me I had to go through all that this season and (would) be healthy, I probably would have laughed.

Note what he said. "My guys." This was a turning point in George's career, when he became the Pacers' unquestioned leader. There's plenty more to be written about him in the days ahead.

The Pacers have five potential spots to fill over the summer. Ian Mahinmi, Solomon Hill, Jordan Hill and Ty Lawson are free agents. They also hold an option on Shayne Whittington's contract. Changes will be made, as always, and they are impossible to predict. It's not only a question of who they want back, but who they can get and how much other teams offer their players. They won't know all that until they wade into the free agency waters.

This team has no glaring needs, but some definite ones. It either needs a better offense to execute or better execution of its offense. The stagnant sets that brought about the slow start in Sunday's game were all too familiar. And, somehow, it needs to have a sharper edge, more juice, more killer instinct, whatever you want to call it. That's primarily an issue of personality and is the responsibility of the front office. If you want a snarling dog to protect your home, you don't buy a Golden Retriever. But again, it's a first-year team.

As Solomon Hill said Sunday night, they didn't play with desperation until the fourth quarter, after falling behind by 16 points. At that point Toronto began playing not to lose and appeared perfectly capable of giving back the game, as if haunted by the memory of its past playoff failures. The Raptors scored just 11 points and committed four turnovers in the fourth quarter, but that was barely enough to hold off a potentially miraculous Pacers comeback that would have sent all of Canada into a state of depression.

The Pacers, it could be argued, were victimized by a couple of calls. George was called for a charging foul after picking off a steal and driving to the basket that could have gone either way. If he's allowed that three-point play, the Pacers are down five with more than three minutes left. And the referees clearly missed DeMar DeRozan shoving Mahinmi from behind when George lobbed a pass for a possible dunk when the Pacers were down three with 15 seconds remaining.

"Couple calls they blew tonight, to be honest," George said.

There usually are, which is why you prefer homecourt advantage.

The Pacers can find arguments for improvement next year in many areas. George, primarily, but also Myles Turner. Despite playing like a 20-year-old rookie on Sunday, Turner proved to be a savvy draft pick and a promising player who can become an All-Star. He needs to develop a post-up game, but appears to have the maturity and will to reach his potential. He said earlier in the series the only times all season he had felt nervous was in the season-opener, his first NBA game, and the first game against the Raptors. This was his first Game 7, and he was nervous for it as well.

It's behind him now, just as the season is behind the Pacers. They'll come back a different team next season, wiser for their experience and well ahead of where they began this past season in terms of chemistry and cohesion. What they just experienced seemed to be much closer to the start of something than the end of something.

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Pacers Show Growth, Promise in First Year with New Core

Wheat Hotchkiss

The 2015-16 Pacers season ended in disappointing fashion, as Indiana's fourth-quarter rally in Game 7 in Toronto came up just short on Sunday night.

But make no mistake – this season was no disappointment.

No one was quite sure what to expect of the Blue & Gold heading into the year.

No one was quite sure if Paul George could get back to his All-Star form after breaking his right leg in August 2014. No one was quite sure how the team's top draft pick, a promising 19-year-old in Myles Turner, but a 19-year-old nonetheless, would fare in his first NBA season. No one was quite sure if the team could make the playoffs after losing two mainstays in the starting frontcourt and undergoing a major overhaul in its style of play.

Now we know the answers to those questions. They're good answers. The future is full of promise.

So while there was definitely plenty of disappointment in the visiting locker room at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night, there was also plenty of hope.

"I couldn't be more proud of all our guys and how far they've come this year," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said after the Game 7 loss.

"We re-made our franchise this year, completely re-created an identity, worked through several shifts this season. And we played our best basketball down the stretch when it mattered."

Indeed they did. These Pacers went toe-to-toe with a 56-win Raptor team throughout the seven-game series.

They took Game 1 on the road. They frustrated Toronto's All-Star backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan all series long with tenacious defensive pressure. They came oh-so close to becoming only the second seven seed to advance out of the First Round of the NBA Playoffs since 1999.

"A lot of people didn't expect us to even make the playoffs this year, said a lot of negative things about us," said Pacers point guard George Hill. "We still found a way to get in there as a seven seed and gave a two seed a heck of a series."

The most promising part of the Pacers' postseason play was George. The three-time All-Star was unquestionably the best player in the series and arguably the best player in any First Round series.

He averaged 27.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.8 steals. He shot 45.5 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from 3-point range. He hounded DeRozan all series, holding the Raptors' leading scorer under 37 percent shooting in six of the seven games.

George, who turns 26 on Monday, is back on the fast track to superstardom.

Vogel called George's comeback from his devastating injury "a remarkable triumph."

"It's been a long journey," George reflected. "I'm very proud of this team, very proud of my guys."

Meanwhile, Turner went through some rookie growing pains in the series, but he held his own against the Raptors and their goliath of a center, Jonas Valanciunas.

The 6-11 center out of Texas delivered quality play all series long and moved into the starting lineup in Game 4. He was 2-for-11 in Game 7 and 2-for-13 in Game 4, but otherwise good offensively, scoring in double figures on four occasions. He was superb on the defensive end, blocking 23 shots in seven games to set a franchise rookie record for total blocks in the postseason.

"Myles Turner emerged," Vogel said. "Myles Turner showed what he's made of by having a great series in his first go-around in the NBA Playoffs. Just had a great series...There's a lot of reason to be excited and hopeful about our future because of that kid."

George and Turner are the clear pillars of the franchise's future, but most of the larger core of this team figures to be back next season.

The starting backcourt of George Hill and Monta Ellis are under contract for next season, as are key reserves Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles.

The two biggest contributors set to enter free agency are starting center Ian Mahinmi, who made huge strides in his eighth NBA season, and do-everything forward Solomon Hill, who went from out of the rotation in the first half of the season to a dependable crunch-time player in the playoffs.

Hill, for his part, sounded like a player who wants to be back with the Blue & Gold next season, speaking very positively about the franchise's future and the idea of playing with George and Turner.

"For Paul to come back and do what he did, it's (nothing) short of amazing," Hill said. "...For him to come back and be the type of player that he is and to lead us, I definitely look forward to the future.

"Myles Turner, if we can get him going in the right direction and get him focused on the right things, the sky's the limit for the kid."

As George Hill noted after the game, it's impossible to predict exactly what will transpire in the offseason. Pacers President Larry Bird could opt to keep all the key pieces from this team together or he could try to make a splash in free agency or via trade.

But all indications are that the team's stock is trending up.

As the Pacers walked off the court for the final time in the 2015-16 season on Sunday night, they did so with their heads held high. Each and every player on the roster made a point to shake hands with and congratulate the Raptors before retreating to the locker room for reflection.

"I think we had a great season," Ellis said. "Guys (were) together. We fought to the end...We left everything on the court."

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Forecast Looks Bright for Pacers Franchise's Future

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Pacers 84, Raptors 89 (Game 7)

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With under three minutes remaining in the game, Monta Ellis followed up a thundering Solomon Hill transition dunk with a crowd-silencing 3-pointer to cut the Pacers' deficit to just three points. The Pacers had entered the quarter trailing by 14.

But on the other end, Kyle Lowry converted a layup to give the Raptors breathing room again, as second-seeded Raptors — pushed to the brink in a winner-take-all Game 7 — managed to overpower the Pacers, winning the game 89-84 and ending Indiana's season in Canada.

"They played a great game and got a lead," Monta Ellis said after the game. "It's hard trying to fight back against a team like that. We were doing it but came up short. It was a great game."

After Paul George sunk two free throws to bring the score to 87-84, the Pacers regained control of a Toronto miss, giving them possession with 26.9 seconds remaining in the game and a chance to tie. But a PG miss was corralled by DeMar DeRozan, who ran the clock down to 6.5 seconds and made it a two-possession game by hitting on a pair of free throws, ending the hopes of a Pacers comeback.

There was reason to believe the Pacers could become just the sixth seventh seed to upset a second seed in the first round, but in front of the deafening roar of the Air Canada Centre crowd, the Pacers were outscored in every quarter but the fourth, trailing by five after one, six at the half, and 14 entering the fourth and final quarter of their season.

George started the night with his usual level of Playoff excellence, scoring 17 in the first half. But he was kept in check for the most part in the second half, adding nine points to his team-high 26 points.

"He went on there and competed," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said of George. "I couldn't be more proud of our guys and how far we've come this year."

In the fourth quarter, with the light of a comeback dimming, the Pacers dug in. After George hit a pair of free throws with six minutes left to cut their deficit to 12, PG did it again, hitting a floater to bring the score to 83-73, where the Pacers made their impressive final run.

But the Raptors' lead proved to be too tall a task. Despite several key turnovers forced by the Pacers down the stretch, Toronto was able to do enough to stay in control of the game, setting them up for a second-round matchup with the Miami Heat.

George started the game roaring on offense, making his first three shots and finishing the opening quarter with 12 points, including a 360-dunk in transition.

But it was the Raptors who had control in the early going, leading by five in the opening minutes before George and Ellis provided a spark, leading Indiana to its first lead of the game, 21-20.

George wasn't the only player in an early groove on offense. His counterpart on the Raps, DeRozan, quickly racked up 13 points, tallying five buckets in the first quarter as the Raptors built a 28-23 lead. DeRozan finished the night with a game-high 30 points.

The Pacers started the second quarter off well, taking the lead for the second time when Rodney Stuckey drilled an open three from the wing, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Raptors rookie Norman Powell put Indiana down 36-32, forcing a Frank Vogel timeout.

Toronto continued to flow even after the timeout, finishing off an 8-1 run with a Cory Joseph jumper, two of his six points off the bench in the first half. Powell also provided a boost for Toronto, coming off the pine to add 10 points in the early going.

But the Pacers continued to bite into the Raptors' lead — which got as high as eight in the half — as George Hill scored with a jumper and a floating layup on consecutive possessions.

George Hill's play was incisive all night, finding space to shoot and hitting on 8-of-11 shots, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, to rack up 19 points on the evening.

But to close the half, Jonas Valanciunas sunk two free throws to put the Raptors up 50-44, with the Pacers needing a comeback in the final two quarters to knock off Toronto.

In the third, the teams exchanged runs frequently, but the Raptors got in the first punch. Leading by six to open up the half, Toronto fired out of the locker room with a 8-2 run, going up by 15 when Patrick Patterson drilled a 3-pointer to send the home crowd into bedlam.

But the Pacers quickly rallied back, using an 11-2 run which featured eight points at the rim as Indiana attacked the paint. But the Raptors, sensing their lead shrink, broke off an 8-0 run, which was then countered by a 5-0 Pacers spurt. Then DeRozan responded, scoring six unanswered Raptors points to put Toronto comfortably in the driver's seat entering the fourth. DeRozan fired away all night, going 10-of-32 from the field but making all nine of his free throws as the Raptors edged the Pacers closer to the end of their year.

With their season hanging in the balance, Indiana held the Raptors scoreless for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, however, the Blue & Gold was only able to get three points on the board during that window, narrowing its deficit to 11 with 8:30 remaining.

From there, Indiana winnowed it down to just three points in the final three minutes, but Toronto's 49-38 rebounding advantage, coupled with 15 Pacers turnovers, proved to be the advantage the Raptors needed to capture their first Playoff series win since 2001, and send Indiana into the offseason.

But even after the loss, an optimistic Vogel sat at the podium.

"We have a complete team, and our guys played well and (Paul George) played well," he told the room of reporters. "We have to continue to grow, continue to build."

The Raptors were able to get to the free throw line 17 times, compared to just eight trips for Indiana.

The Pacers had been 3-0 this series when holding the Raptors to under 40 percent shooting as a team. But Toronto was still able to get the win despite shooting 38.2 percent.

Rookie Norman Powell was huge for the Raptors, going 5-of-6 from the field for 13 points.

Toronto outrebounded the Pacers 49-38. Paul George had a team-high 12 rebounds.

"I will say this, they are a tough team. That young man Myles Turner is going to be a player and I want to congratulate them because Frank (Vogel) did a heck of a job. They made adjustments, we made adjustments, that team right there is a big-time team. Paul George is back." -Raptors head coach Dwane Casey

"Credit (the Raptors') defense, they played really well, they played so hard and they are so well prepared. It's not going to be easy when you're competing on the road. We had a couple of turnovers late that were problematic but I thought out guys tried to run, tried to make the extra pass, tried to play the right way and put ourselves in a position with the ball down three in Game 7 on the road." -Pacers head coach Frank Vogel

"We were desperate, you have to leave it all out there on the court. We knew we just had to run, no more play calling, no more wasting time. As soon as Paul (George) got the rebound we were looking to go." -Solomon Hill

"I felt like we played well all series besides a couple of games. Giving one up in Game 5 really hurt us. The fight and effort the guys showed in the fourth quarter being down 16 points to make it a one possession game and gave ourselves a chance to win, it just shows the heart we have in this locker room." -George Hill

Frustratingly, the Pacers had an edge in some of the stats that would normally lead to a win. Indiana shot 46.6 percent to Toronto's 38.2. The Pacers connected on nearly 50 percent of their 3-pointers while the Raptors hit on 33.3 percent. However, Toronto manufactured extra possessions by hitting the offensive glass to the tune of 18-5, and made six more free throws.

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Game Rewind: Pacers 84, Raptors 89 (Game 7)

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Show your Pacers pride by sending pictures of yourself and friends wearing Pacers gear for for Indiana's Game 7 matchup with the Toronto Raptors, and add the hashtag #WeTheGold.

For Game 6, the Pacers did a digital gold out in addition to the United State of Basketball t-shirts. You can still download custom Pacers profile pictures for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to help Indiana with a digital gold out for Game 7.

The Pacers need all the support they can get for Game 7, so with everything on the line, it's time to show your gold.

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Show Your Gold For Game 7 #WeTheGold

If they choose, the Pacers can play this as if they have nothing to lose.

They are the lower-seeded team, the underdog, the visiting team, the one in the early stages of a rebuild. Unlike Toronto, which is the higher seed, the home team, the one much further along in its process – and therefore the one with the greater burden of expectation.

The Pacers aren't dodging the unique pressure of playing in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series in Toronto on Sunday, but they readily acknowledge the extra helping of it the Raptors must digest. The Raptors aren't denying it, either.

"The pressure's on both teams," George said after the Pacers' Game 6 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday. "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."

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Toronto's trouble getting out of the First Round will be on the mind of all its fans in the Air Canada Centre Sunday evening. The Raptors haven't accomplished that since 2001, and failed to do so the past two seasons. They lost Game 7 to Brooklyn two years ago when Kyle Lowry was blocked by Paul Pierce at the buzzer, and didn't come close last season when they were swept by Washington.

A failure to advance this time could alter careers. Toronto holds the option on coach Dwayne Casey's contract for next season, and All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan is a free agent. The possibility of an overhaul isn't out of the question.

"It means everything for us to advance," DeRozan said Friday night. "The season would be a failure if we don't make it out of this First Round. We understand that."

DeRozan, speaking with reporters back in Toronto on Saturday, called it "by far...the biggest game of my career."

DeRozan and Lowry figure to factor heavily into Sunday's outcome, for better or for worse. The Raptors' two All-Stars haven't produced up to their standards, combining to average 30.1 points in the series on 31.5 percent shooting. That's 14 points below their combined regular season scoring average.

Lowry was offered the excuse of a sore elbow by a Toronto media member after Friday's game, but deflected it and passed off credit.

"The Pacers are doing a great job on me, simple as that," he said. "They're all over me, mixing coverages up. They're playing me well. George Hill is playing great defense right now. Their team defense is forcing me into tougher shots."

Lowry has played well in the other aspects of his point guard role, but DeRozan, the shooting guard, has struggled in all but Game 5, when he scored 34 points. He's averaging 15.8 points on 32 percent shooting in the series and hit just 3-of-13 shots on his way to eight points on Friday, mostly because of the defense of Paul George and Solomon Hill.

It's not as if he has a history of postseason fades, however. He averaged 20.3 points in the playoffs last season and 23.9 two years ago.

How will he respond on Sunday? He was asked on Friday.

"You respond like you're supposed to; simple as that," he said. "Everybody loves the game of basketball. You can't make it seem like it's a funeral, it's a chance for us to go out and compete at the highest level. It's an opportunity for us to do it on our home court."

The Pacers can draw from more positive playoff history, Game 7s included, if they dig deeply enough. They are 7-5 all-time in Game 7s dating back to their ABA days, and 4-4 on the road in those games. They won their 1973 championship in a Game 7 at Kentucky, but the more relevant ultimate game to this team occurred two years ago, when they defeated Atlanta, 92-80, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Paul George, George Hill, Ian Mahinmi, Solomon Hill, and Lavoy Allen were on that roster, but George and George Hill are the only returning starters from that team. George scored 30 in that game, George Hill 15, Mahinmi had one off the bench, while Solomon Hill and Allen didn't play.

This is a new team, a new situation, a new game. Both teams regard it as a blank slate, an entity unto itself. But it doesn't seem to be one that frightens the Pacers.

"You guys make it more of a big deal than us," Mahinmi said Saturday. "As a player, it's actually one of the easier games, where you just go all out and give everything you have in the tank.

"It's going to be a tough game, but we play this game for those moments. It's a great opportunity for us as a team."