Pacers vs. Raptors: Game 5 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs
The Indiana Pacers led by 13 points through three quarters Tuesday and appeared headed for a Game 5 victory that would afford them a chance to close out the Toronto Raptors at home on Friday.
And then the fourth quarter happened.
Although the Pacers received a monster effort from Paul George, who poured in 39 points (11-of-19 shooting, 5-of-11 from three), eight rebounds and eight assists, the Raptors overcame a languid showing during the game's first 36 minutes and outscored the Pacers 25-9 in the final frame to capture a dramatic 102-99 win at Air Canada Centre and seize a 3-2 series lead.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Raptors' comeback was one of historic proportions after they trailed by as many as 17 points in the first quarter:
While the Raptors' late run left the Pacers shellshocked, Indiana did enough to hang around and earn one final shot to tie things up and force an extra session.
However, Solomon Hill's would-be game-tying triple was waved off after the ball appeared to leave his hand just fractions of a second after the final buzzer sounded.
DeMar DeRozan spearheaded the Raptors' hot-and-cold attack all night long, and he put forth his best effort of the series with 34 points on 10-of-22 shooting, including 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.
And while Kyle Lowry struggled with 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting to go with five assists, Bismack Biyombo compensated with a superb effort off the bench. In 24 minutes, Biyombo tallied 10 points and 16 boards for his first double-double of the postseason.
But it wasn't always smooth sailing for Toronto.
The Raptors rolled out a new starting lineup for Game 5, and it figured to provide the Atlantic Division champions with a much-needed lift following a listless Game 4 performance.
Rather than slotting Luis Scola in at power forward, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey opted for Patrick Patterson alongside Lowry, DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas. And based on postseason sample sizes, the move looked like it would be a winning one.
Entering Game 5, the team's new starting lineup outscored opponents by 31.1 points per 100 possessions over the course of 16 minutes, per NBA.com's lineup data. That number dwarfed the net rating of minus-8.5 points per 100 possessions that Casey's old starting lineup recorded over the course of 35 playoff minutes.
However, the adjustment didn't pay the kind of dividends early that the Raptors had hoped for. The Pacers went on to outscore Toronto by 15 points, 35-20, in the first quarter, putting on a tactical clinic.
Over the game's first 12 minutes, the Pacers drilled seven threes—more than they hit in all of Games 2, 3 and 4—and assisted on 11 of their 12 made buckets.
The Raptors, though, flashed some encouraging resilience. After getting doused by a downpour of Indiana buckets in the first quarter, Toronto opened the second frame on a 13-1 run with George on the bench.
DeRozan—who scored eight points on 4-of-15 shooting in Game 4—attacked Indiana's defense aggressively as George grabbed a breather, and his approach appeared to spark the Raptors:
Toronto parlayed DeRozan's 19-point first half into a manageable nine-point halftime deficit, but as Sportsnet's Eric Koreen noted, Lowry's lack of production during that span (eight points on 1-of-6 shooting) put the Raptors in a precarious position:
DeRozan continued to score at a steady clip in the second half as he continually worked his way to the free-throw line and knifed into the lane, and his determination kept the Raptors afloat until they truly came alive with George resting to start the fourth quarter.
Using the same formula that allowed them to crawl back in the second quarter, the Raptors ripped off a 15-2 run to start the fourth quarter and tied things at 92 midway through the period behind an emphatic slam from Norman Powell, who finished a team-best plus-16 in 28 minutes:
After warding off danger and mounting a stunning comeback, the Raptors are in the driver's seat with Game 6 slated for Friday evening at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
According to WhoWins.com, teams up 3-2 in a best-of-seven format have gone on to win the series 85 percent of the time. Furthermore, teams in Toronto's position have also posted a stellar .627 winning percentage in Game 6s on the road.
With just one win standing between the Raptors and their first postseason series victory since 2001, they should be highly motivated to dispatch the Pacers on Friday and exorcise their first-round demons once and for all.
Postgame Reaction
Following the win, both DeRozan and Casey discussed the come-from-behind effort, as NBA TV shared on Twitter:
However, the Raptors weren't the only ones celebrating the big win:
On the flip side, Indiana appeared rather dejected after leading by 13 points with 12 minutes to play.
"I don’t really feel emotions during a game like that," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said of his emotional state during the final minute of play, per CBSSports.com's James Herbert.
George, meanwhile, focused in on a single number as he scanned the final stat sheet in front of reporters.
"Only one stat," he said, according to the Indianapolis Star's Candace Buckner. "Nine points in the 4th. Only thing to look at. Nine points in the 4th."
