4 days Ago By Field Level Media
RJ Barrett scored a season-best 39 points, Jakob Poeltl added 30 points and 15 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Indiana Pacers 130-119 on Monday. Barrett, who pulled down nine rebounds, scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. Gradey Dick added 15 points for the Raptors, who ended a seven-game losing streak.
Davion Mitchell and Ochai Agbaji chipped in with 11 points apiece. Former Raptor Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who opened a three-game road trip. Bennedict Mathurin added 28 points and Obi Toppin scored 19 points.
Tyrese Haliburton had 16 points and five steals while T.J. McConnell put up 10 points.
Indiana's Jarace Walker (six points) and rookie Enrique Freeman (three points) both started an NBA game for the first time. The Pacers have lost three of four. Toronto led 34-27 after the first quarter.
Siakam grabbed a defensive rebound and produced a running layup at the other end to give the Pacers their first lead at 41-40 with 7:33 remaining in the second quarter. Toronto answered with nine straight points. The gap reached 18 points with 1:26 left in the period on Barrett's layup.
Indiana finished the first half on an 8-2 surge to cut the deficit to 69-57. Toronto shot 57.4 percent (27-for-47) in the first half while Indiana shot 44.
2 percent (23-for-52). The Raptors scored the first five points of the third quarter to bump their lead to 17. Mitchell's 3-pointer increased the margin to 20 with 6:20 remaining in the third.
Poeltl banked in a hook shot to give Toronto a 22-point lead with 5:26 to go before Indiana answered with a 10-2 run. The Raptors led 96-82 after three quarters. Toppin scored five straight points to cut the lead to 11 with 9:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Haliburton's steal set up Mathurin's layup to trim the margin to seven, but a layup by Barrett had Toronto ahead by 12 with 5:32 to play. The visitors never got closer than nine points the rest of the way. The Raptors wound up outshooting the Pacers 58.
5 percent to 44.4 percent from the floor, 48.3 percent (14 of 29) to 37.
5 percent (15 of 40) from 3-point range. This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission..
