With 5 minutes 48 seconds left in the second quarter, the Toronto Raptors led the Indiana Pacers 45-26 Tuesday night.
The game ended with a lopsided margin of victory but not how you would have anticipated.
The Pacers outscored the Raptors 82-45 the rest of the way to win 108-90.
So what the heck happened?
Each team had taken 30 shots at the point at which the Raptors led by 19. The Raptors made 16. The Pacers made eight. Over the rest of the game, the Pacers made 31 shots on 53 percent shooting. The Raptors made 18 shots on 39 percent shooting.
A couple of players sparked this. Initially it was Paul George, who made 7-of-9 shots and Monta Ellis, who hit 4-of-6. In the fourth quarter, it was Lance Stephenson, who made 5-of-6 shots, though his layup with 3.3 seconds left triggered an altercation between the teams.
Also of note: The Raptors went freezing cold from long range. They started the game 4-of-8 from 3-point range but from there went 1-of-15, a sharp contrast to the Pacers going 9-of-14 over the same span. George made 4-of-6 en route to a 35-point game. He has scored at least 35 points in consecutive games for the second time in his career.
Additionally, the Pacers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Raptors, 34-19 in the last two-and-a-half quarters after they were outrebounded 21-9 to start the game. The unsung hero for the Pacers was the man on the glass, Thaddeus Young, who had 10 of his 11 rebounds in the 25 minutes he played after the Raptors were up 19, including six rebounds in the fourth quarter. He averages six rebounds.
