Raptors embarrass Pacers with franchise-record blowout

TORONTO — For whatever reason, or reasons, the Indiana Pacers haven't been able to close games at Scotiabank Arena.

It's not just the Feb. 5 meltdown against the Toronto Raptors, when they lost an 11-point lead in the waning minutes against the second-best team in the Eastern Conference and lost by one.

Even a season ago, the Pacers led by 13 with 10 minutes left and lost by three. That lack of poise here has been a nasty habit that predated the eight new players on this roster.

The outcome was decided in about three minutes Sunday in a 127-81 loss. The Pacers' previous low scoring performance this season was 83 against Milwaukee.

Aaron Holiday, starting with Victor Oladipo (sore back) out, couldn't make an open shot. T.J. Warren opened 0-for-7. The starters were 5-for-31 (16%) in the first half.

The season series goes to the Raptors 3-1 thanks to the largest margin of victory in Toronto franchise history.

The Pacers have defeated top-shelf opponents this season, beating the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers (twice) and Denver Nuggets.

What's absent, however, are road wins against quality playoff teams in the East. That 119-118 loss to Toronto was an opportunity lost. So was a 119-116 loss at Philadelphia, when the Pacers turned it over three times in the final 13 seconds in a game they had in control.

That's what they have to show they can do — win on the road against teams of that caliber — to prove this Pacers team is better than last season's.

That 48-win team, which flamed out down the stretch of the regular season without Oladipo, had too many games like this where it failed miserably. The Pacers were swept out of the first round by Boston.

The Pacers (33-24) were chewed up swiftly Sunday. They came out of a timeout down 13-1 and turned it over. Malcolm Brogdon's layup was their first field goal almost midway through the quarter. The next field goal from Justin Holiday didn't come until three minutes later.

The Raptors were like Secretariat, a team full of thoroughbreds with championship mettle, while the Pacers were the rest of the field being left in the dust.

Standouts: Domantas Sabonis (14 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists) and Justin Holiday (12 points, 3 steals) were the only Pacers to get anything done when it mattered. The starters outside of Sabonis combined to shoot 15-for-49 (30.6%). Serge Ibaka (15 points, 15 rebounds) made the game's first three shots to get the Raptors out fast as Kyle Lowry (16 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds, 5 steals) and Pascal Siakam (21 points) got them up huge.

Xs and Os: The Raptors got into their offense quicker because of the push with the pass. They found mismatches and attacked before the Pacers could organize and send help. It didn't matter if there was a man or zone defense because they saw the game two steps ahead. Defensively, they pushed the Pacers out of the operational zone. They forced Sabonis above the 3-point arc to initiate tosses. They forced him beyond his preferred spot on post-ups. Everywhere the Pacers got the ball in half-court led to extremely difficult shots against the extended pressure. Aaron Holiday went uncovered and missed all four attempts from 3 as the Raptors packed it in to limit Sabonis.

Injuries return: Jeremy Lamb (5 points) had to leave after being challenged by Terrence Davis (13 points) on a breakaway layup and coming down awkward on his left knee. He stayed on the floor for a while, got up to make the foul shots and exited at 9:54 of the second quarter.