The view from Pacers owner Herb Simon’s seat before Game 4.
The script flipped Saturday afternoon. It was the Pacers locked in and energized for a key playoff game. They never trailed and reached the century mark for the second time in the series, prevailing 100-83.
The best-of-seven series is 2-2, with Game 5 slated for Tuesday in Toronto.
Myles Turner to start Game 4 in place of Allen
At the Buzzer: R1 G4 — Pacers 100, Raptors 83
VIDEO: Ty Lawson’s crossover shakes Cory Joseph
Career game results in a podium game for Ian Mahinmi
This is what was said afterwards:
Pacers coach Frank Vogel:
On the win…
Right from the start, from the first quarter, we were playing for each other. The man with the basketball was thinking pass. And everybody else was being aggressive — spacing, cutting, rolling. We did a much better job sharing and protecting (the ball).
On Ian Mahinmi’s showing…
He’s had a lot of games for us like this this year. He’s become a great finisher around the the basket, and we saw that tonight. He was big on the offensive glass and he’s a great, versatile defender. It was just a great all-around performance.
On Myles Turner’s influence…
Huge impact. Every time he shoots it I think it’s going in. … I thought, ironically as a rookie, he set the tone as much as anybody with a pass early in the game. He was hot-potatoing and we were making pocket passes to him and every time he touched it he was looking for teammates more than looking at the rim. He took the message as well as anybody to share it.
On George Hill…
I thought in Game 3 he was very, very aggressive. When we watched the tape, every time he got an opportunity, he was big-time in attack mode and really dialed in making shots and being aggressive. Tonight, he was just finishing everything. He finishing his threes, finishing everything around the basket. … He just willed our way to the victory.
Paul George:
On sharing the ball…
With this group, everybody has to be options for us, offensive threats, and tonight they were which made us explore offensively.
On their defense…
I thought our defense was phenomenal. We had a great stretches throughout this game where I thought we were at peak, and that’s what we need and that’s what we got to travel on the road to Toronto. Everything about this game was great for us.
On responding from Game 3…
This is how I wanted us to respond to the Game 3 loss. I thought we were very pissed off, very attentive and focused to even the series out tonight. We knew that we let one go in Game 3 and had a great opportunity to go up in the series so I’m glad we responded.
On George Hill…
With G-Hill, he can be as good as he wants to be on both ends of the floor. We need to be offensively looking to get his. It’s only going to make it easier because George is very crafty, very smart offensively and when he’s getting aggressive going to the basket, he has all the options. … When he’s going, he just makes us so much better.
Ian Mahinmi:
On his injury…
It’s not the best right now. I’m going through ups and downs. There are times when I feel 100 percent, and times less. It is what it is. I’m fine.
On what he might be able to do if he was healthy…
I can’t take credit for this today. Most of my shots were dunks and shots under the rim where I just had to go up and dunk it. Today, my teammates really, really did an awesome job of finding me and today was a total team effort.
On how special this moment was for him…
It’s a good feeling. I feel like it’s been a long journey for me. It’s not over, it’s still a lot of basketball to be played. I feel like I’ve been in every position throughout my career and it’s a lot of work. I worked a lot to be able to help my team with that type of performance.
George Hill:
On the win…
We did a great job of everybody just trusting one another, playing for one another, and having fun out there.
On if it was refreshing to not get lost in the corner…
Whatever the team needs. I’m a team-first guy so it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re winning, I don’t really care about anything else. If that’s playing defense at a high level or being aggressive sometimes or finding my spots to be aggressive, I’ll do whatever it takes.
On job defending Kyle Lowry (4-for-12, 12 points)…
It’s been my focus all series long. They have two great All-Stars over there and a lot of great role players so anytime you can make it tough on him to score, you give yourself a better chance (to win).
On their offense…
Hopefully it gives us confidence to continue to move the ball and to trust the pass. The way we moved the ball today and played defense today, we need to carry that into Game 5.
Myles Turner:
On being in the starting lineup…
Felt great. It’s been a dream of mine my entire life to play in the playoffs, let alone start in a playoff series.
I feel like I was born for this and I was built for this so I’m going out there playing with a confidence, trying to exuberate that confidence early.
On their different mindset going into Game 4…
Yeah. We were disappointed that we dropped the game how we did last time so we wanted to come out, set the tone from the start. The fans were into it and the whole team was ready to go from the jump. There was definitely a different feel.
On George Hill…
George Hill was being very aggressive today and when he plays that way, I feel as if we are unstoppable.
On his dive onto the floor…
I feel like that’s just part of who I am, playing hard and trying to provide that spark for this team.
On Ian Mahinmi’s performance…
It’s incredible. I told him he literally put the team on his back tonight and did what he had to do. Whenever Ian plays that way, whenever George plays the way that he (did), it takes pressure off PG. If we all share it the way we did today, I feel like we’re an unstoppable team.
Ty Lawson:
On the faster tempo…
Our shots didn’t dictate their offense. I think in all three games, every time we [the second unit] shot the ball, it probably wasn’t the shot that we wanted and they were getting the ball and just running. Being us.
VIDEO: Ty Lawson’s crossover shakes Cory Joseph
Raptors coach Dwane Casey:
On the Raptors’ energy and intensity…
We talked about it before the game. We knew their backs were against the wall and would come out swinging. We didn’t respond in the proper way. I thought we tried, went to the small lineup, but then they kicked out butts on the offensive boards where they had 15. It was one of those games. Give them credit. They came out and did what they were supposed to do.
Luis Scola:
On the series…
We’re going back home. We’re right where we want to be, that’s the reason you have home-court advantage. We recovered that. It’s hard to win two times on the road. We did it once and that was all we needed to do. Now, we’re going back home hoping for a completely different performance.