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Indiana Pacers Overcome Slow Start to Beat Toronto Raptors 140-123

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Indiana Pacers Overcome Slow Start to Beat Toronto Raptors 140-123


Source: Cole Burston / Getty

(TORONTO, ON) – The Indiana Pacers (46-34) overcome early twelve-point deficit against the Toronto Raptors (25-54) in 140-123 win. Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell combine to score 40 points off the bench to give Indiana its third straight win.

1. First Quarter

Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors

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Indiana has been known to follow up a good with a dud performance against a below average team. Tonight’s game started as if it was going to be another one of those frustrating losses. Toronto jumped ahead 13-2 in just over three minutes. Their main source of offense during that time was rookie Javon Freeman-Liberty with seven of those points. It took Indiana some time, but they were able to trim Toronto’s advantage to five off a Doug McDermott three. Toronto responded with a 11-2 run to go back up by a dozen before an Isiaah Jackson layup to end the quarter. Indiana trailed 35-25 after twelve minutes. Freeman-Liberty led all scorers with 14 points. Indiana’s leading scorer was Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton with 6 points.

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2. Second Quarter

Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors

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After the slow start, Indiana responded with a forty-point second quarter. The second period started with Indiana’s bench keeping the deficit between six and eight points. Once the starters resurfaced with six minutes left in the half, it was all Pacers. With 6:07 left, it was 49-41 Toronto. Haliburton made it a two-possession game after RJ Barrett was issued a technical foul with 3:56 left, making it 53-49. Toronto pushed its lead back to six points on a Barrett layup. Indiana went on a 14-5 burst to take a 65-62 advantage off a Haliburton step back two-point shot. Bruce Brown scored on the final possession of the first half. Indiana led 65-64 over Toronto. Haliburton’s nine second quarter points put him a point behind Freeman-Liberty’s 16 points for the game leader. T.J. McConnell and Siakam were in double digits for Indiana at halftime.

3. Third Quarter

Brooklyn Nets v Indiana Pacers

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Indiana’s hot shooting in the second quarter would not stop in the third. The Pacers were able to score one more point than they did in the second quarter to take command of the contest. It took the team just over two minutes to go ahead by six points after an Andrew Nembhard two-pointer that led to a Toronto timeout. The Raptors cut the Pacers lead down to four after two free throws from Kelly Olynyk. Indiana went on a 10-2 run to finally crack a double-digit lead with 7:30 left in the quarter after a Siakam layup. Indiana got five points and a block from Myles Turner during that stretch. He’d later put the team ahead a game high thirteen points and then would top that later with a layup to go up 94-79 with 5:01 left in the quarter. Obi Toppin has been such an important piece to the success for Indiana the last five games and put the Pacers ahead by a quarter high 17 points after a three-pointer. The lead for Indiana after three quarters was 106-91. Turner scored a team high 13 points, but it was Olynyk with a quarter high 13 points. He led all scorers with 22 points followed by Haliburton with 20 points.

4. Fourth Quarter

Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors

Source:Getty

Once Indiana went ahead by double figures, it just felt like the Pacers were in control of the game because the Raptors didn’t make any major runs. After a Jordan Nwora three, Rick Carlisle called a timeout because it cut Indiana’s lead to twelve points with 10:08 left in the game. His team responded with McConnell putting the Pacers ahead by a game high eighteen points for the first of five occasions. Toppin put Indiana ahead twice with dunks and Haliburton did it twice with a three and a layup. With two minutes left, the Pacers were able to empty their bench and put the reserves in with a seventeen-point lead. After forty-eight minutes of basketball, Indiana was on top 140-123.

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5. Top Performers

Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors

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Tyrese Haliburton (30p, 5r, 5a), Obi Toppin (23p, 6r), T.J. McConnell (17p, 7a), Pascal Siakam (16p, 9r, 3a), Myles Turner (16p), and Ben Sheppard (11p). For Toronto, RJ Barrett (23p, 4r, 4a), Kelly Olynyk (22p, 5r, 4a), Javon Freeman-Liberty (20p, 8r), Gary Trent Jr. (16p, 4a, 4s, 3r), Bruce Brown (16p, 5a, 3r), and Jordan Nwora (11p).  For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

Indiana Pacers v Toronto Raptors

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  • Indiana has now won three consecutive and eight of the last eleven games
  • Indiana is 21-3 when scoring 130+ points
  • Road team won all four contests in the series
  • Tyrese Haliburton’s 30 points are the most he’s scored in a game since scoring 31 points vs Milwaukee on 1/3/24
    • Haliburton scored 30+ points for the 9th time of the season
  • Obi Toppin’s 23 points are the most he’s scored in a game since scoring 23 points vs Phoenix on 1/26/24
    • Toppin has scored 13+ points in five straight
      • This month (5 games) – 15.8 ppg, 5.8 reb, 1.8 apg | FG – 65% | 3pt – 47.8%
    • Indiana is 14-4 when Toppin scores 15+ points
  • T.J. McConnell has scored 15+ points in five straight games
    • Indiana is 12-5 when McConnell scores 15+ points this season
  • Indiana 6th in the Eastern Conference Standings – 2 games left (at Cleveland & vs Atlanta)
    • Have 1 game lead over Philadelphia 76ers – 2 games left (vs Orlando & vs Brooklyn)
      • Indiana has tiebreaker over Philadelphia
    • Have 1.5 game lead over Miami Heat – 3 games left (vs Dallas & vs Toronto twice)
      • Indiana has tiebreaker over Miami
    • Trail Cleveland Cavaliers by .5 game – 3 games left (vs Memphis, vs Indiana, vs Charlotte)
      • Indiana can own tiebreaker with win on Friday (would tie series with Cleveland win)
    • Trail Orlando Magic by .5 game – 3 games left (at Milwaukee, at Philadelphia, vs Milwaukee)
      • Orlando has tiebreaker over Indiana
    • Trail New York Knicks by 1.5 games – 3 games left (at Boston, vs Brooklyn, vs Chicago)

7. Next Up

Cleveland Cavaliers v Los Angeles Clippers

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The Indiana Pacers will have two days off before a critical road game on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. A win will guarantee Indiana a top-six seed and the head-to-head tiebreaker over Cleveland. Pat Boylan will get things started with the Kroger Pregame Show at 6:30pm. Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play starting at 7pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.

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50+ Indiana counties under travel advisories after snow storm. See map

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50+ Indiana counties under travel advisories after snow storm. See map


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At least 50 Indiana counties are under a travel advisory, and 20 counties were issued a travel watch for Dec. 14, following an overnight snow storm.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) travel advisory map has each county shaded in red for a travel warning, orange for a travel watch, yellow for a travel advisory and gray for a county without an elevated status report on it’s current travel conditions.

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Here’s how you can check your county to see where it lands on the map.

Travel advisory

According to DHS, a travel advisory is the lowest level of a related advisory.

“Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas,” the department says on its website.

Watch advisory

According to DHS, a watch advisory is issued when conditions are threatening to a county’s safety.

“Only essential travel, such as to and from work or in emergency situations, is recommended, and emergency action plans should be implemented by businesses, schools, government agencies and other organizations,” the department’s website states.

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Warning advisory

According to DHS, a warning advisory is the highest level of a related advisory, where people may be told not to travel at all.

“Travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only,” the department’s website states.

Here’s the winter weather info you need

🚨 Indiana Weather Alerts: Warnings, Watches and Advisories.

⚡ Indiana power outage map: How to check your status.

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💻 Internet outages: How to track them.

🚫 What you should and shouldn’t do when the power is out.

🐶 Your neighbor left their pet outside. Who you should call.

Indianapolis weather radar

Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON



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What Darian DeVries, Tucker DeVries Said After Indiana Basketball’s Loss at Kentucky

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What Darian DeVries, Tucker DeVries Said After Indiana Basketball’s Loss at Kentucky


LEXINGTON, Ky. — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries and senior forward Tucker DeVries met with reporters after the Hoosiers’ 72-60 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Here’s what the DeVries duo said during their near-seven-minute press conference.


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Q: I guess, Darian, it’s sort of another night where it feels like it just kind of gets difficult to really break down an opponent off the dribble, kind of get that inside-out sort of paint touch to three looks you want, just like what, I guess, are you guys, what’s not happening there, what’s just kind of sort of failing at the source offensively when that’s not working? 

DD: Yeah, I thought the first half, you know, we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement, I thought the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us and we didn’t respond well enough and we turned the ball over too much and live ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they’re out in transition playing in space, so the turnovers and the offensive rebounding, I mean, that flipped the game around that second half. 

Q: On Kentucky’s long run, what was the problem there?

Yeah, I thought the turnovers, it was a combination of things, I thought, you know, we left our feet a few times, I thought we just, you know, got on our heels a little bit and didn’t play as disciplined as we needed to, you know, as that, you know, the crowd got cranked up and things, that’s the time where you got to really dig in a little bit more, your screen’s got to be better, you got to play off of two feet more, and then the offensive rebounds, you know, they just went and got them and, you know, we didn’t do a good enough job of creating space and getting bodies and going and securing the ball. 

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Q: What do you think you need to improve on, the team needs to improve on against ball pressure at the point of attack? 

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DD: Yeah, the number one thing when you get at ball pressure is everything from an execution standpoint and a movement standpoint, it’s just got to be done with more force, you can’t continue just to get pushed out and everybody stands, so you have to find ways to give yourself up with a back hook, give yourself up with a screen, set up those screens with more force, you know, and get some movement to, you know, even as, you know, they had gotten ahead and we started to break it off a little bit, once we got movement again, we were able to get those clean looks or better looks, so it’s something we got to get better at, there’s no question.

Q: Tucker, your individual line tonight was really great, I mean, your effort was fantastic, 15 points, 7 rebounds, a lot of the three point shots tonight didn’t go down like they normally do for the Hoosiers, what do you think that is, was it just not seeing the basket as well, was it the defense, was it not in the offense where you were getting clean looks? 

TUCKER DEVRIES: To be honest, making and missing shots, I thought tonight, honestly, wasn’t a problem, I know, certainly, I did not shoot it great, as a team we didn’t shoot that great either from three, but, you know, even with that being said, I think there were certainly areas that we needed to be a lot better at, as a group, and if we were able to, you know, especially in the second half, execute in those areas, I think that would have made up for some of those, you know, shooting habits and miscues, but, you know, making them missing shots sometimes is basketball, but I thought in the other areas, if we could just, you know, execute there a little bit.

Q: On that, if shots maybe weren’t the problem, what kind of was, do you think?

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TUCKER: I mean, he hit on it pretty good, the turnovers and obviously the offensive rebounds they had, especially in the second half. I mean, I take full responsibility for both of those areas. Obviously, four turnovers is far too many. As a group, I think when they pick up the pressure, I think we just need to really focus on our execution a little bit more on every possession. But good thing is we get a good week here before we play again to really dial in on some of those areas that we’ve maybe lacked in the beginning.

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Q: When Lamar picked up his fourth foul and missed nearly nine minutes, what went wrong offensively?

DD: Yeah, I don’t remember the exact sequences there, but, you know, not having Lamar out there is certainly a big part of our offense, and, you know, his foul trouble tonight certainly limited him with only the 21 minutes because he was, again, he’s, you know, a big focal piece of what we try to run our offense through, so, you know, I believe during that little stretch that he wasn’t out there, that’s when the turnovers started to happen and 

we weren’t able to get into, you know, maybe some of our actions the way we needed to. 

Q: Darian, you mentioned Kentucky’s offensive rebound and kind of flipping that game. Was that just their physicality, their effort out beating you guys or something else that you saw going on? 

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DD: Yeah, I thought their effort, their physicality in the second half was, you know, really good. I mean, they certainly cranked it up a notch in that second half and we needed to respond to it, but, you know, I thought their aggressiveness defensively, their aggressiveness in the offensive glass, you know, was ultimately the factor. 

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Q: Darian, you mentioned Lamar, but how much did the foul trouble for not just him, but other guys, affect you tonight?

DD:  I mean, foul trouble is foul trouble. You have it every night, so you’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it and, you know, we just didn’t do a good enough job with that.

Q: Just to follow up on that, with this team, and you’ve talked about sort of where you are with the two bigs and things like that, like does foul trouble become sort of a compounding problem when it disrupts rotations? It felt tonight like maybe guys were just not either on the floor long enough to find the rhythm or maybe had to be on the floor too long because other guys were in foul trouble. 

DD: Again, our guys, you know, their numbers are called, they’re ready to go. You know, certainly, you know, a guy like Lamar, you want him out there, but when he’s not out there, I feel very confident that the guys that are coming in are going to do their part and do their job and, you know, we certainly have a lot of faith in them, so, you know, unfortunately it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to tonight.

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Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley team up to broadcast Indiana vs Kentucky

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Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley team up to broadcast Indiana vs Kentucky


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Basketball icons Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley headline the broadcasting crew for Indiana vs. Kentucky on Saturday, Dec. 13.

Vitale, a longtime ESPN analyst, and Barkley, a Basketball Hall of Famer-turned analyst, are teaming up to call two games this season, with the first coming between a pair of blue bloods in a nonconference matchup. Dave O’Brien will handle play-by-play duties.

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Vitale and Barkley will broadcast together for the second time this season during TNT and CBS Sports’ First Four coverage of the men’s NCAA Tournament in March.

Watch Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley call Indiana vs. Kentucky live with Fubo (free trial)

The humorous duo will be appointment viewing for many college basketball fans, as both are known for their larger-their-life personalities. The team-up became possible after TNT lost its broadcasting rights for NBA games, moving TNT’s “Inside the NBA” to ESPN.

Vitale is returning to regular broadcasting in 2025 after battling multiple forms of cancer since 2021. He has called over 1,000 games for ESPN since joining the network in 1979.

Barkley, an 11-time NBA All-Star, averaged 22.1 points and 11.7 rebounds across his 16-year career. He was drafted No. 5 overall out of Auburn in the 1984 NBA Draft.

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How to watch Indiana vs Kentucky today with Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley

Indiana-Kentucky will air live on ESPN, with streaming options available on the ESPN app or Fubo, which offers a free trial.

Indiana vs Kentucky time today

  • Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Date: Saturday, Dec. 13
  • Location: Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky)

Indiana vs. Kentucky is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET tipoff on Saturday, Dec. 13, from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.



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