The Pacers defeated the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of their Round 1 series Saturday afternoon, 100-90.
At the Buzzer: R1 G1 — Pacers 100, Raptors 90
Paul George thrives back on the big stage, leads Pacers to Game 1 win
This is what was said afterwards (via Raptors PR):
Pacers coach Frank Vogel:
On if this is the type of game or performance you’ve been looking for all year…
I’m happy with the performance for sure. I’m hoping we’ve settled on sort of a rotation that works well with a bench that came in and elevated the level of play for us tonight. I’m definitely happy with the win.
On what do you attribute to taking (DeMar) DeRozan and (Kyle) Lowry out of their comfort zone…
Guys just working really hard. Trying to be disciplined with their body position and their hands. Those guys weren’t at their best tonight, we expect them to bounce back and have bigger nights than they did tonight. They are both great players and we’re just going to have to work every minute we are on them.
On Paul George’s performance…
Awesome. The biggest reason we won. There’s a lot of reasons, a lot of guys made winning plays and impacted the game in a positive way. Paul’s shot making at the end of the game was spectacular. It’s been a long road for him, in terms of actually getting back on the court but before his injury, we were in the Conference Finals. I think this is an exciting day for him to get back to playoff basketball.
On what this win will do for your confidence…
Every win and every play you make that impacts the game positively builds your confidence. We kind of had the mindset that we don’t have a home court advantage type of record because we had a lot of changes here, even throughout the year. We’re hoping that we’ve settled on something that can be successful for us in the playoffs. We’re off to a good start but obviously a lot of work to do still.
Paul George:
How were you able to step up your game starting in the third quarter?
I was able to go back into the locker room at halftime and watch some film. I was trying to figure out a better approach and to come into the second half with a better focus. I knew I was going to be able to get some good looks; I just had to be smarter about how I took them.
What has it been like working back from your injury and getting back on the court?
I’m still not the same player that I was (before the injury). I think from a maturity standpoint, I have grown. In terms of physical talent, I think I was better. The injury made me work hard, and brought me back to how I started playing basketball, which was putting the work in and working every day. I love the results and I’m where I want to be.
How were you able to elevate your game in the fourth quarter?
I just had to slow the game down, not feel rushed and let the game develop. I needed to make the right plays. I’ve always been the guy (in the past) watching other guys make plays. This is my team now, so I have to be in position to make those plays. With me being here for a long time now, I think that definitely helped.
Monta Ellis:
What were the keys to closing out the fourth quarter?
Defence, the biggest thing was to rebound the basketball. They killed us on the glass. We had big fella (Jonas Valanciunas) in foul trouble, he actually fouled out, and that really slowed the game up for us and we were able to box out and get out of grinds.
How important is it to take the first game on the road?
It’s always great to take either the first game or play so hard you get the momentum to come back in the second game. We were able to win tonight because of a total team effort, everybody came together, we got defensive stops, we were able to get out and play our basketball.
What was the difference between this game and the regular season?
The thing is it is zero-zero. The regular season, it’s now playoffs. During the season I think we played them well, we just didn’t finish down the stretch. As the season went on we grew together as a team and grew here today. Today to come out and close the game in a tough environment, I think we just put that behind us. We knew to keep them off the line and we would give ourselves a chance to win and we did that.
Myles Turner:
Did you have any jitters for your first playoff game?
That’s an understatement. I got out there and I had a whole bunch of nerves, a whole bunch of energy, all the jitters and you could tell in the first two free throws I shot. After that I was good. I wanted to lock in defensively and just take it from there.
How big was it for you to get a couple blocks early and get into a rhythm on the defensive end?
It’s big because I’m establishing that trust with my teammates. If they get beat they know I’m back there able to block shots like I did. I’ve got to be able to maintain that throughout the rest of the playoff series.
How much has your confidence grown throughout the season in your ability to block shots?
It’s skyrocketed. I came in with the reputation of being a shot blocker and I wanted to uphold that so it’s definitely starting to come up.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey:
On not being able to get DeRozan and Lowry going and the 19 turnovers…
We had plenty of opportunities. DeMar (DeRozan) had 19 shots and Kyle (Lowry) had 13. I don’t think they’re going to shoot like that again. But the key thing I think is the turnovers. The turnovers shot us in the foot; like the soft passes, not really setting solid screens, not running, (not) playing physical offence to get open, and those things broke our back as far as breaking our rhythm offensively. Defensively, we held them long enough, and then all at once Paul George gets going. I think we held him to nine points in the first half, and then in the second half he got going. But a lot of it was our inability to get our offence in rhythm, (get) our offence going, and I don’t think we’re going to shoot 37 per cent again. Those guys had some good looks. I thought we didn’t play on the weak side enough. I’ve got to look at the film and see, but that’s something we’ve got to come up with: what we can get on the weak side for those guys to get that many attempts.
You couldn’t use Jonas Valanciunas as much as you wanted to but did you like what he brought?
No question. I thought along with that, Jonas being in foul trouble really (hurt us) because he had it going. He had 11 offensive rebounds, and we didn’t get to utilize him as much and it allowed them to do some things where they were able to help more on Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) off of Bis (Bismack Biyombo). Again, hopefully he won’t get in foul trouble again. Some of them were cheap fouls; wrestling matches where he’s got to show his hands to the officials, and don’t even put yourself in a position to get those cheap fouls.
On searching for a spark…
I was searching for someone to stop Paul George. That’s what we were searching for. I thought our normal rotation was a little skewed just adding that extra player in there, but at the end it was searching for someone to stop Paul George. And it wasn’t really fair to put DeMarre (Carroll) in there after he got going and then try and turn the water off. So, we’ll come up with a rotation in that situation. It’s nothing that Norm (Powell) did wrong, but I thought as a team we were tight offensively. And then that frustration carried over to the defensive end and you can’t do that. It’s a long series, I know the percentages and the numbers and all that bull crap, but it’s a long series. I know our team today didn’t play to our identity, but I know we’ll come back Monday night and play to our identity.
This marks seven straight losses by this team, are you worried that tightness offensively becomes a habit?
I don’t think so. I don’t listen to the noise and I hope our guys don’t listen to the noise. It’s a long series. Again, it’s one of those things where I think our guys were so tight. I don’t think it had anything to do with the seven games or anything, I think it was the Indiana Pacers and then the moment of the playoffs got us tight. I don’t think it had anything to do with the previous games.
Can it creep inside your head as a team?
I don’t think so. If we do, shame on us. We have got to play to our identity Monday night; get the ball to the weak side, do some things to get each other open, do some things by not turning the ball over. Again, I don’t think that had anything to do with the previous seven games.
Were you surprised there was a little bit of tightness?
I knew we were going to have some, I didn’t know it was going to go as long. I knew we were going to be a little tight just by the Playoffs being here. Everybody’s making such a big thing out of it. Our guys are being prideful, they understand the moment, but again, it wasn’t us. I hadn’t seen us play that tentative on the offensive end all year. That will change. I think we will come out more relaxed, more loose; understanding time and score situations, getting the ball to the weak side and defensively we had some mess-ups that gave them confidence. I thought we were holding them in check for a little while and then in the third quarter we made some mistakes and gave them some confidence on the offensive end that we will clean up.
Kyle Lowry:
On the offense…
They used their physicality. They pushed us off spots and when they got baskets it was hard for us to get into transition and get going. But we got some shots and some looks, I mean I shot 3-for-13, DeMar (DeRozan) 5-for-19, JV (Jonas Valanciunas) 4-for-14. We didn’t play well but we’re positive. We got some looks that we liked and I think some looks that we know we can make.
With all the talk this this week with learning a lesson last year about confidence, were you surprised with the tentativeness that you guys might have shown a bit?
I think we showed too much tentativeness. I think we missed some shots and we got some open looks, honestly we got some open looks. JV missed four or five tip-ins, DeMar missed some floaters, I missed some wide open threes. I don’t think we were tentative, I think we just honestly missed some shots. We turned the ball over too much. Now it’s a series of adjustments and we have a game on Monday. I’ll watch the film, I’m sure most of the guys will watch the film tonight. We’ll go over it as a team tomorrow and prepare for Monday. We’re good, its one game. It’s not last year, we’re very positive. We’re very confident, we just have to go out there and do what we know how to do.
DeMar DeRozan:
On the offense…
We turned the ball over. We didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to get into the rhythm of the game. We had 19 turnovers, that takes away opportunities for us to be able to score. We lost that and then we were scrambling, trying to get it back at the defensive end. We really didn’t get into a rhythm. Once we protect the ball and give ourselves a better opportunity to score, we’ll be fine.
Dwane (Casey) said he felt like this team was really tight offensively, partly because of the moment of the playoffs, partly because of the Pacers. Is that something you worry about going forward in a playoff series?
No it’s nothing to be worried about. We understand that we just had a bad game. We shot 38 per cent, turned the ball over, we missed 12 free throws. Take that away, we’re right there. We have to play better as being the leaders of the team. With that, protect the ball. It’s nothing to worry about at all. We understand that we’re going to come out and play aggressive. We beat them three times in the regular season. I understand that it was a home game for us, so they took advantage of it. They got hot in the second half. I’m pretty sure we’re not going to shoot 38 percent again; we’re not going to turn the ball over 19 times. With that, we’ll be just fine.
On losing the last seven playoff games…
We understand that we just played bad. We played terrible at home and we understand that we have to go on the road and get one. We played extremely well on the road, and we just have to take care of home on Monday. We didn’t tell ourselves that we’re going to go 4-0. We understand that it’s not going to be that easy, we understand that it’s going to be a challenge. We just have to get Monday.
Luis Scola:
What’s the message after this game?
You just have to stay calm. It’s a long series, they have to beat us three more times to win the series. It’s going to be hard for any team to beat us three times, let alone four. Nothing really changed today. I know we have to go there and win one game but we were going to try to do that anyway, even if we lost one of these two games. The most important thing is to take it one game at a time. Just win the next and just play a good game. We were playing well until one point and then we just stopped playing. Kind of shake it off, keep our minds right and play the right way in the next game and try to get one basketball win and we will move from there.