Raptors find a way to ‘win ugly’ against lesser Pacers

TORONTO – “As soon as I got the rebound.

That’s when Toronto Raptors point guard Emmanuel Coakley made up his mind what he was going to do on the final possession against the Indiana Pacers.

There were 11 seconds left in the game.

Raptors center Jacob Poeltl came from across the lane to swat his old friend Pascal Siakam’s potentially game-winning layup off the backboard, and the floor was scraped in what was a tie game the Raptors probably didn’t deserve to win, at least on paper.

Teams that shot 5-of-25 from the 3-point line and 38.9 percent overall en route to scoring just 97 points haven’t won many games like that in the NBA’s supercharged offensive era.

The Raptors had not scored fewer than 100 points in any game this season. Their lowest total in a win before Wednesday was 110.

But here they were, score tied, a chance to steal. So Quickley (15 points, five rebounds, six assists) did the smart point guard thing and got the ball to Brandon Ingram and got out of the way. And Raptors head coach Darko Rajkovic fought the urge to call a timeout, instead relying on the players on the floor to figure things out.

Kyle knew the ball was in good hands.

“He’s a tough cover,” he said of Ingram. “He’s (six-foot-eight), can shoot it off the dribble, off the pull-up. He’s a heck of a player, especially one-on-one.”

good decision Ingram calmly carried the ball up the half, getting into some rhythm dribbles against Siakam, the former Raptor, before getting some separation, rising up and cashing in the game-winning field goal with 0.6 on the clock.

The usually laconic Engram acted as if electricity was charging through his body. Barnes jumped on his back. Ingram’s famous girlfriend, rapper Gloriala, was only slightly less dynamic.

What did he say when he was shouting in the crowd?

“That’s why I’m here,” was the PG-13 version of Ingram after finishing a 26-point, eight-rebound night with his first game-winner as a Raptor. “That’s pretty clear I can say that.”

No argument as the big shot earned a 97-95 victory and improved the Raptors to 4-0 overall in NBA Cup play while improving their record to 14-5 with their ninth straight win.

What looked like a risky, borderline risky acquisition when the Raptors traded for Ingram despite a long injury history and a very short history of playing on winning basketball teams has looked inspired, instead.

The three-year, $120 million contract extension was a good piece of business. Ingram has had his fingerprints on all three wins in the past 10 days that were decided late and because of last-minute plays in favor of the Raptors.

But why are the raptors here?

In possession of the longest winning streak since Toronto won a team-record 15 straight in 2019-20, won 13 of its past 14 and tied for second in the Eastern Conference?

A lot of it has to do with adaptability.

Along with RJ Barrett (hamstring), Rajkovich decided to try Colin Murray-Boyles as a starter on Monday night after giving up Jacoby Walter in the first game Barrett missed after suffering a sprain the night before.

That was because the Raptors were hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Walter would give them another option against Cavs star Donovan Mitchell. It was a smart choice as Walter was part of the reason Mitchell was held to 14 points below his season average.

But against the Pacers, Rajkovic wanted to get a little bigger to better match up with Sekam and Jairus Walker, Indiana’s big wings.

It didn’t quite work, as the Raptors’ rookie picked up two quick fouls. Back came Walter, who has been gaining confidence for weeks, and just showed that in the game’s key run: a 25-3 spurt at the end of the second and the beginning of the third quarter where Toronto went from leading 11 to 13 with eight minutes remaining.

Walter hit three triples, assisted on another basket and made a steal that set up another score, all in a seven-minute span as he finished with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting while adding a pair of steals in his 33 minutes. Walter was struggling to find minutes even 10 days ago, but the Raptors didn’t beat the Pacers without him.

“He knows we have his back, and he’s a product of this organization,” Rajkovic said. “So he understands the culture and how we want to play, both on offense and defense and he brings juice to the team every day. So really, really happy for him.”

Jameson Jung and the tall Agbaji were handed minutes as Rajkovic tried to find a combination that could work when moving to the basket.

But perhaps the Raptors’ most impressive adaptation was that they continued to compete even when they couldn’t score.

One of the biggest plays of the game was Scotty Barnes fouling the Pacers’ Benedict Matherin over-and-back with three minutes to play after Matherin (15 points) showed signs of going into his microwave routine with a pair of triples. A moment before, Walter had stepped in and made a charge against Matherin.

The Raptors couldn’t shoot overall, but Barnes drove his way to the free-throw line a career-high 14 times and made every one.

And then when they needed a bucket, they knew where to get it.

“I think at the end of the game, we just (showed up) as a whole,” said Barnes, who finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a key block. “Jake had a big block. I got the backcourt (turnover), Jacoby got the charge. Just constantly fighting, constantly trying to get those stops … (on offense) we know what we’re going to get, which makes it a lot easier.”

It wasn’t an easy win, though, as the injury-riddled Pacers dropped to 2-16 on the season. But by winning so often and so quickly, the Raptors are learning all different ways to finish the job.

“You have to win in different ways,” Quickley said. “You win when you don’t shoot well, you have to win sometimes when you turn the ball over, you have to win ugly. 82 games into the season, you’re not always going to shoot the ball well, but you can always play defense. You can always bring energy, effort and that’s what we did tonight.”

That, and finally get the ball into the right person’s hands.

sick bay: Barrett was officially announced by the Raptors on Wednesday with a sprained knee, consistent with all the messages since he left Sunday’s game against Washington after coming down on a routine fast-break dunk. Barrett can be seen in the backyard after Wednesday’s game, usually walking. He is expected to be re-evaluated at the end of the week, but is listed as day. Grady Dick took a heavy fall in the first half and did not return in the second half as he was being ‘evaluated’. “He’s fine,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajkovic said. “Just a precaution.”

Feel the current of the cecum: It will be two years since Sekam was traded from the Raptors to the Pacers in January, but his connections to the community have paid off for seven years. His PS43 Foundation is still active, and on Tuesday night, Siakam was on hand for one of his most ambitious projects yet: an ‘edtech engine’ at DMZ – an on-campus tech startup incubator at TMU. The evening was to recognize three different businesses that were part of the first cohort of growth companies that came through the program, which focuses on finding technology-based solutions to solve problems in education. This is just one of the many initiatives that Seacom Foundation has taken up and supports on an ongoing basis. Being traded from the Raptors hasn’t changed that.

“It’s been amazing people, it’s amazing,” Sekam said. “Having something in your mind and wanting to build it and seeing it grow and develop is so important. We always want to be different and do things in a way that I don’t think has been done and this EdTech engine is part of that. These founders, these startups and the resources to help them build a community that thousands of kids can be a part of.”

Because of the cup: When and who is still to be determined, but the Raptors finished 4-0 in Group A to ensure themselves a home game for the quarterfinal round of the NBA Cup, and for a young team trying to learn how to acquire and rebuild a fan base that hasn’t had much to be excited about over the past four years, that’s no small feat.

“I think it’s a great opportunity, right?” Rajakovic said. “It’s an opportunity for us to play a game at the beginning of a season that gets you somewhere that means more than just a regular season game … It means a lot. I think this city and the love that the team is feeling and our fans are getting, it’s going to be another great basketball game here.”