Raptors in huge Game 5 victory over Pacers

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 entering 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.

After a rampaging fourth-quarter comeback to erase what had been a 17-point Pacer advantage, Toronto held a three-point lead.

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, is “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.

That Hill’s shot got off at all represented a failure in execution by the Raptors, according to Casey.

“I got on Norm — he was supposed to foul in that last situation,” Casey said during his post-game press conference. “I thought he was reaching, but he didn’t grab him. We said, ‘If he dribbles, grab him,’ and he said he tried to, but he passed it before the officials called it […] You foul in that situation, you make him shoot two free throws, and it becomes a free-throw game, you do your percentages.”

But the rookie couldn’t wrap up, leaving Hill with enough room to make the shot … but, as it turned out, not enough time.

“I was just looking at the shot. I wasn’t looking at the clock,” said Hill — who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three made 3s, including one to draw the Pacers within one point at 100-99 with 15 seconds left — after the game.

“I knew I was short on time, and I tried to do the best I could with the time I was allowed. You know, if I would have got it off quicker, who knows? Maybe I miss it. It’s a give-and-take on both ends, and we tried to do the best we could.”

After making all three of his previous triple tries on the night, Hill got the chance to send the game to OT because George responded to all the defensive attention he’d received by deciding not to rise and fire himself.

“It’s very tempting,” he said after the game. “That’s the shots you want. But at the same time, I seen the open man, and it wasn’t on me to make the hero shot.”

Report by Balls Don’t Lie