Pacers at Raptors
The Indiana Pacers look like a team that could do some damage in the Eastern Conference playoffs - as long as they're playing at home. The Pacers will try to snap a three-game road slide and earn back-to-back wins for the first time in over a month when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
Indiana is sitting in the No. 6 spot in the East but is only 2 1/2 games in front of the ninth-place Detroit Pistons and looks like two different teams over the last two weeks depending on the venue. The Pacers averaged 84.7 points in the last three road games while putting up an average of 105 in the last three at home, including an impressive 98-77 drubbing on Wednesday of the Charlotte Hornets - the same team they fell to 100-88 on the road March 6. The Raptors are more comfortable in the No. 4 spot in the East but are still learning how to play without All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry and have started to lean on the defense. "Play the game the right way on both ends of the floor, good things happen," Toronto coach Dwane Casey told reporters after an 87-75 win at Detroit on Friday. "I know we didn’t shoot the lights out. I think if you continue to play hard, play with force like that, your shots will soon fall. The most important thing is setting the tone, with that disposition, that physical disposition wasn’t going to get pushed around."
TV: 6 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Indiana, Sportsnet 1 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE PACERS (35-33): Indiana has been off since that win over Charlotte on Wednesday and is setting up for a stretch of three games in four nights that includes a home date with West power Utah on Monday and a trip to Boston on Wednesday. "For us it's about one game at a time and going to Toronto and trying to show road toughness and win games on the road," Pacers coach Nate McMillan told reporters. All-Star forward Paul George scored 39 points on 15-of-21 shooting in Wednesday's win but struggled to a combined 14-of-36 from the field in the last two road games.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (40-29): Toronto was embarrassed defensively in a 123-102 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday but was a different team on that end the next night. "All of it was defense," shooting guard Norman Powell told reporters after Friday's win. "We know that the defense is going to carry over into offense. Once you get stops you build the confidence, because you have the energy, because you’re cutting hard, because you’re locked in. On one end, it’s going to fuel itself, on the other end you’re not thinking about it, you’re just playing basketball and that’s what really happened tonight." The defense helped the Raptors overcome a rare low-scoring game from shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who was held to 14 points and went 3-of-9 from the floor.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Raptors PF Serge Ibaka averaged 13.5 points in the last two games after going scoreless in 32 minutes against Dallas on Monday.
2. Pacers PF Thaddeus Young totaled six points in the last two games after scoring in double figures in three straight.
3. The teams have not met since Toronto beat Indiana in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs last spring but will meet three times over the next three weeks.