1. First Quarter

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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.

2. Second Quarter

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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

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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

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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.

5. Top Performers

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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

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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

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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.