Solomon Hill’s game-tying 3 comes late, gives Raps huge Game 5 win
Once again, the Toronto Raptors seemed to have no answers for Paul George. Once again, Dwane Casey’s club looked tight and tentative, facing a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and looking to be in real danger of heading back to Bankers Life Fieldhouse needing a win over a confident and comfortable Indiana Pacers team to stave off elimination.
But then, finally, the tide turned … and in the closing seconds, this time, Toronto got the break for which its fans had been praying.
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After a rampaging fourth-quarter comeback in which the Raptors opened the fourth quarter on a 21-2 run against a bench-heavy Pacers squad, Toronto held a three-point lead with less than three seconds remaining. Monta Ellis’ drive for a layup got swallowed up by Raptors reserve Bismack Biyombo, but the Pacers retained possession with 2.7 seconds left, giving them a chance to tie with a 3-pointer … and they very, very nearly did.
Ellis was able to find George — who had killed the Raptors all night en route to a playoff career-high-tying 39 points — breaking off a Solomon Hill screen on the inbounds. George juked back to his left, creating some space from the defense of Toronto rookie Norman Powell, which prompted Raptors guard Cory Joseph to leap over and try to double the All-Star swingman. George responded not by taking a shot in traffic, but by shoveling the ball over to Hill — who had just made a right-corner triple to get Indy within one — who was now wide open after Joseph left him. Hill stepped back behind the arc in the left corner, loaded up his shot, sent it up as the horn sounded, and watched it splash through the net, appearing to tie the game at 102 and send the contest to overtime.
The key word, of course, being “appeared.”
Replay review confirmed that the ball was still on Hill’s fingertips when the clock hit triple-zeroes and the red light around the backboard fired up, meaning Hill’s shot came too late to count. That’s game. Raptors 102, Pacers 99.
After four straight disappointing performances, Raptors All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan exploded on Tuesday, scoring a team-high and career playoff-high 34 points on 10-for-22 shooting in 40 minutes of work. He made 12 of his 13 free throws, including a critical pair with 13 seconds left in the fourth to give Toronto the three-point lead that would stand up as the final margin of victory.
While All-Star backcourt partner Kyle Lowry continued to struggle, scoring 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting to go with five assists, four rebounds and one steal, Casey rolled the dice with a small-ball, bench-heavy lineup in the fourth quarter to try to chop down a 13-point Pacers advantage, and was rewarded by big performances from his reserves.
Biyombo scored 10 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and provided exceptional interior defense in helping hold the Pacers to just nine fourth-quarter points. Joseph finished with eight points, three rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block, and made a big 3-pointer with 3:26 remaining to give Toronto a six-point edge. Rookie Norman Powell added 10 points and four rebounds while helping quiet George in the final frame, and snagged a pair of fourth-quarter steals, including one that led to a fast-break dunk that tilted momentum and got the Air Canada Centre rocking:
As he was in the opening game of the series in Toronto, George was absolutely brilliant and clearly the best player on the floor, making 11 of his 19 shots, including 5-for-11 from 3-point range, to go with eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals, one block and three turnovers in 41 minutes. He’s just the 15th player since 1984 to go for 39-8-8 in a playoff game, according to Basketball-Reference.com, joining Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Brad Daugherty, Clyde Drexler, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Rajon Rondo.
Outside of rookie center Myles Turner (14 points, 7-for-10 shooting, eight rebounds, three blocks, one assist) and guard George Hill (15 points, 4-for-7 from 3-point land, three assists, two rebounds, one steal, one block), though, George just didn’t have much help, especially during a fourth quarter in which Indiana shot just 4-for-15 as a team, went more than five minutes between baskets in the middle of the quarter, and committed six turnovers leading to 10 Raptors points.
Indiana’s inability to complete simple passes or hit open shots allowed Toronto get back into the game; Hill’s inability to get the ball up just a tenth of a second faster allowed the Raptors to escape with a thrilling come-from-behind win that fundamentally changes the complexion of the series. Now, instead of the Pacers flying back to the States with a chance to close out on their home court, Toronto will travel to Bankers Life for Friday’s Game 6 seeking its first trip to the second round of the playoffs since 2001.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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