Bankers Life Fieldhouse plays host to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round Playoffs on Thursday night between the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers, currently knotted up at 1-1.
The Raptors were in desperate need to escape Air Canada Centre with a win on Monday night to avoid falling to a two-game deficit, coming out strong in a 98-87 win over the Indiana Pacers. Led by Jonas Valanciunas, who dropped 23 points and hauled in 15 rebounds, the team snapped a seven-game postseason losing streak at home, extending back to last year when they were swept in the first round by the Washington Wizards. Kyle Lowry recovered from a sluggish Game 1, contributing 19 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, shooting 4 of 13 from the field and nailing all 10 of his shot attempts from the foul line. Cory Joseph provided some postseason experience off the bench, posting 16 points and 3 dimes while going 6 of 8 from the paint, as fellow reservist Patrick Patterson finished with 14 points, 6 boards and 5 field goals. Toronto has yet to see DeMar DeRozan perform to his potential after leading the club offensively with a 23.5-point average regular season, putting up an average of only 12 points in his last two outings. The Raptors' last Playoff win had come in 2014 during their first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets.
Indiana had a tough shooting night from long range in Tuesday's loss, going 4 of 20 from deep after averaging 35.1% over the course of their 2015-16 regular season campaign. The team was buoyed by another strong performance by Paul George, who scored 28 points, took in 4 boards and shot 8 of 15 from the paint and 10 of 11 from the charity stripe. Monta Ellis recorded 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals, going 6 of 12 from field goal range, while Rodney Stuckey had 7 points and 4 boards off the pine. The Pacers will enter Game 3 slightly hobbled after Ian Mahinmi was forced to sit out the fourth quarter of Monday's game with a lower back sprain and is listed as questionable for Thursday. The last time the team came out on the winning end of a Playoff match-up in Indianapolis was on April 22nd, 2014, when they beat the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
