NBA: Raptors also win at the Pacers and win tenth in a row

The Toronto Raptors have also won at the Indiana Pacers, claiming their tenth consecutive victory. This time, the dominance among the baskets was the decisive factor that covered up the Canadians’ numerous lack of concentration.

With nine wins in a row, the Raptors came to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse as the leaders of the Eastern Conference and met a similarly hot Pacers team, which won six of the last seven games. And it was uncomfortable for Toronto – Indiana once again exerted enormous pressure on the ball and forced numerous, unaccustomed ball losses of the Canadians. Already at the break the Raptors had produced 11 turnovers (at the end of their 20s) and were trailing by 8 points.

Al Jefferson, who was only in the rotation of the Pacers due to the violation of backup center Domantas Sabonis, played a major role in this. The Low Post Professor did what he wanted with Jakob Pöltl and later also with Jonas Valanciunas and had already collected 15 points (7/8 FG) and 6 rebounds in his first 11 minutes. This was necessary because Myles Turner injured his ankle in the second quarter after a collision with DeMar DeRozan and only returned after a few minutes in the third section.

Toronto’s great strength, the bank, however, did not come into play at all in the first half. But also the starters had their problems, especially Kyle Lowry did not have a good evening. The fact that Toronto remained in the game had a lot to do with Valanciunas, who could not be stopped under the boards by the hosts. The thin big rotation dominated Indiana under the basket (58:35 rebounds for Toronto), DeRozan also exploited these weaknesses with some successful drives to the ring and equalized the match after a long time just one minute before the end of the third quarter.

The Raptors now had the turnovers a little better under control, and it slipped from outside. C.J. Miles pocketed three important long-range shots in the final quarter, but the Pacers had no answer to Pascal Siakam (12 points, 8 rebounds) in this phase. Toronto extended the lead to 8 points two minutes from time and did a good job against Victor Oladipo in the defense. The Shooting Guard had to earn his points very hard, but he got help from Darren Collison, who shortened to 3 points 25 seconds before the end.

Ibaka remained cool on the free-throw line and after a steal and the following dunk DeRozan finally made everything clear. The Shooting Guard was also the best scorer of the Raptors with 24 points and 7 assists. Valanciunas recorded a double-double (16, 17 rebounds), also Ibaka (13, 11 boards, 6 turnovers). Jakob Pöltl played exactly 16 minutes in which he scored 4 points (1/1 FG) and 3 rebounds. At Indiana Collison (22, 8/11 FG), Oladipo (18) and Jefferson (20, 12 rebounds) marked the most points with a season record.

The Raptors, who have won for the tenth time in a row, only need one more successful game to set the franchise record, but the Canadians have never had eight consecutive wins on foreign soil.