TORONTO – DeMar DeRozan finally turned in the All-Star effort Toronto has been waiting for in the playoffs.
DeRozan’s big game, and an even bigger Raptors comeback, put Toronto on the brink of a second-round berth.
DeRozan scored 34 points and the Raptors held on for a 102-99 victory over the Indiana Pacers and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series Tuesday night when Solomon Hill’s 3-pointer was ruled after the buzzer.
“I just felt like my normal self,” said DeRozan, who came in shooting 29.6 percent (21-for-71) over the first four games of the series but connected on 10-of-22 shots in this one.
“It’s all about patience,” DeRozan added. “You can’t get flustered, you can’t get frustrated. You’ve got to stay the course. That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
The Raptors overcame 39 points from Paul George and a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, getting 14 points from Kyle Lowry.
Bismack Biyombo had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the second-seeded Raptors, who can clinch the first seven-game playoff series victory in franchise history by beating the Pacers in Indiana on Friday night.
“If we don’t come in (Friday) with the mentality like we had in the fourth quarter, it’s going to be a long game,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said.
George Hill had 15 points and Myles Turner 14 for the Pacers, who led by as many as 17 and never trailed through the first three quarters before coming unglued in the fourth.
“It’s awful to have had a chance to win on the road, go up 3-2, and come back home,” George said. “Once again, we failed to live up to that moment.”
Jonas Valanciunas scored 11 and rookie Norman Powell had 10 for Toronto.
The Pacers made 13-of-29 from 3-point range but struggled from all over the floor in the fourth, making four of 15 shots and scoring just nine points in the period.
Trailing 90-77 to begin the fourth, the Raptors tied the game with a 15-2 run. Powell stole the ball from Monta Ellis and made a fast-break dunk to knot it at 92-all with 6:31 remaining, sending the sellout crowd of 19,800 into a frenzy.
“I think the crowd, the intensity, it took away from us being in attack mode and being confident,” George said. “I thought we played a little nervous, a little tight, on our heels.”
Toronto’s first six points of the fourth came with George on the bench. He checked back in with 8:36 left.
Pacers coach Frank Vogel said he considered leaving George in to start the fourth, but decided to stick with his reserves.
“(George) looked pretty gassed at the end of the third,” Vogel said. “We had a decent lead that I thought we could hold up. I chose to trust those guys, those guys have been good for us. They had a tough stretch there.”
After Powell’s basket, neither team scored again until DeRozan hit a tiebreaking 3 with 4:15 remaining. After a missed 3 by Ellis, Cory Joseph hit another 3 for Toronto, putting the Raptors up 98-92 with 3:26 left.
Solomon Hill’s 3 with 15.9 seconds cut it to 100-99, but DeRozan answered with a pair of free throws.
Indiana had the ball under Toronto’s basket with 2.7 seconds left. Ellis inbounded to George, who fed Solomon Hill, and Pacers players threw their arms up in celebration when his shot from the left side went through the net. But video replay confirmed that the shot came too late.
“I wanted (George) to take the last shot if he was open,” Vogel said. “He stumbled a little bit, had two guys on him. He made the right basketball play. It was a great play, just a great play. One frame shy of being a tie game and going to overtime.”
ATLANTA – Kent Bazemore sparked a stunning turnaround with three straight 3-pointers in the second quarter, and Atlanta reclaimed the upper hand in its playoff series against Boston with a rout.
The Hawks are up 3-2 in the series and positioned to close it out Thursday in Boston. If Game 7 is needed, it would be Saturday in Atlanta.
This one started out horribly for Atlanta, which couldn’t make a shot and trailed 29-19 midway through the second quarter. Then, suddenly, the Hawks looked like an entirely different team.
Led by Bazemore, Atlanta ripped off a 28-8 run to take control before halftime. The Hawks totally blew it open with a 42-point third quarter, heading to the final period up 89-62.
Mike Scott led the Hawks with 17 points, while Bazemore and Jeff Teague added 16 apiece. Evan Turner topped Boston with 15 points.
