• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Pacers-Raptors Preview

Apr 25, 2016 - 10:02 PM A lineup change revitalized the Indiana Pacers and helped them tie up their first-round series with the Toronto Raptors.

The change the Raptors would like to see is for DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to wake up from some series-long woes.

These teams were also involved in a scuffle toward the end of the last matchup, and the tension only figures to be raised Tuesday night in a pivotal Game 5 in Toronto.

Indiana moved forward Myles Turner into the lineup in place of Lavoy Allen in Saturday's 100-83 rout. The Pacers held a rebounding edge for the first time in this series at 43-40, limiting Jonas Valanciunas to six after he totaled 48 in the first three games.

"I think our just general team awareness of the ways Jonas is hurting us is why we did better in Game 4 and it's gonna be a battle the entire series," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said.

While Valanciunas was bottled up on the glass, the production by DeRozan and Lowry remained consistent for Toronto - and it's not nearly good enough. The two All-Star guards were a combined 8 of 27 from the field and 0 for 7 on 3s for a total of 20 points.

Lowry is averaging 15.5 points on 32.2 percent shooting while DeRozan is at 13.3 points and 29.6 percent in the series.

"Give Indiana credit, they've done a good job on DeMar and Kyle," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "But we haven't seen their best, they know that and it may not be by scoring points, it may be by moving the basketball, it may be by helping defensively."

The Pacers are using Paul George to defend DeRozan and George Hill to slow down Lowry. They are wary that the Raptors duo, which averaged a combined 44.7 points during the regular season, may be due to break out.

"The efficiency has not been great for those guys but we're not comfortable in any way as good as those guys are," Vogel said. "We're going to continue to fine tune what we're doing with those guys, with the plan, George and Paul are doing a good job on them, but it's more than that, it's gotta be a team effort."

Hill and Ian Mahinmi, who is listed as questionable but expected to play through a back injury, each scored 22 points Saturday in a series that is getting nastier as it is progresses.

A scuffle developed with 5:03 left after Valanciunas gave George a small shove underneath the basket. George responded with words and then DeMarre Carroll ran into the gathering crowd. All three players drew technical fouls, including George's second in two games.

Toronto's Patrick Patterson also was assessed a technical in Game 4. Game 3 featured three technicals on Indiana after the first two games in Toronto saw neither team get one.

"I'm looking at flagrant fouls, Jonas Valanciunas gets cracked across the head and again, I've got to get an understanding, and the officials didn't review it but they were hitting us going through the lane and DeMar DeRozan shoots zero free throws with the same drive," Casey said.

DeRozan has failed to reach the line twice in this series after ranking third in the league in free-throw attempts.

Casey refused to acknowledge that the Pacers lineup change with Turner was a factor. Instead, the coach claimed that Monta Ellis had a huge impact despite a second straight seven-point effort; Ellis scored 15 in each of the first two games.

"I thought the guy who had the most effect on the game and didn't score a lot of points was Monta Ellis," Casey said. "His speed of pushing the ball down the floor, getting down the floor impacted the game as much as anything else. We have to look at that."

George has been the star of the series with 26.3 points per game and 36 free-throw attempts compared to 15 for DeRozan. He totaled 61 points on 54.1 percent shooting in the first two games in Toronto before averaging 22.0 points on 34.3 percent shooting in two at home.

"Toronto's a very hostile environment, hostile crowd," George said. "Game 5 is going to be about taking their crowd out of the equation."