After two Justin Holiday free-throws with 2:27 remaining, the Indiana Pacers held all the momentum and looked to be on their way to a much needed victory,
The Toronto Raptors had other ideas.
An 11-0 run to close the game, sparked by Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry and a Serge Ibaka three-pointer with 30.4 seconds remaining, was the difference in the game.
The Raptors defeated the Pacers by a score of 119-118.
This came after a historic shooting night for the Pacers, whose 19 three-pointers were the most in franchise history.
The loss extends Indianas losing streak to three games and Torontos winning streak to an NBA best 12 games.
The Pacers have also now lost 12 straight regular season games in Toronto.
The Pacers started the game slow, falling behind 32-20 with 10:38 remaining in the second quarter.
The always reliable bench unit and Domantas Sabonis quickly turned that around.
The unit went on a 31-7 run in the second quarter to take a 12-point lead. The run was sparked by six three-pointers by Holiday and Doug McDermott.
Indiana led by a score of 63-48 at halftime.
The Pacers kept the momentum rolling at the beginning of the second-half and led by as much as 19 points.
But the Raptors came roaring back, cutting the lead to four points entering the fourth quarter before finally rattling off the 11-0 run to win it.
The Pacers were led by Malcolm Brogdon with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists and Holiday and McDermott with a combined 41 points and 10 three-pointers.
The Raptors were led by Lowry with 32 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists and Ibaka with 30 points and 7 rebounds. Siam also finished with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
A positive takeaway for the Pacers was the performance of Victor Oladipo. Making his first start of the season, while extending his minutes restriction to 28 minutes, he played his best game of his short season.
He scored 13 points on 5-14 shooting. He seemed to fit the flow of the game better than in previous games, which gives weight to the idea that he was not comfortable coming off the bench.
Indianas bench outscored Toronto 55-22. The Raptors separated themselves by creating nine more turnovers and outscoring the Pacers in transition 31-7.
The loss drops the Pacers to 31-20, which is tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for fifth in the conference. The Raptors improve to 37-14 and extend their lead over the Boston Celtics by 1.5 games for second in the conference.
The teams now travel south of the border to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for game two of this home-and-home series. They play on Friday at 8 p.m.
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Pacers fall apart in fourth quarter on the way to teams third straight loss - Indy Cornrows
