Toronto Raptors send 'wake-up call' to Indiana Pacers with embarrassing 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 vs. the Toronto Raptors, when they lost an 11-point lead in the waning minutes against the second-best team in the East and lost by one.

Even a season ago, the Pacers led by 13  with 10 minutes left and lost by three.  

Box score: Raptors 127, Pacers 81 

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 3 minutes Sunday in a 127-81 loss. The Pacers' previous low scoring performance this season was 83 vs. Milwaukee. 

"This is a wake-up call. That team is playing for something big and they showed us what February, March, April, if you can get into May and June, what it's going to look like," coach Nate McMillan said. "They jumped on us. They played with intensity. They played with sense of urgency, a team that's connected out there. We're back on our heels from the start. We got to get to that level."

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, or 16%, in the first half. 

The season series goes to the Raptors, 3-1. 

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 vs. 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 they failed miserably. They were swept out of the first round by Boston. 

The Pacers (33-24) were chewed up swiftly Sunday.

"We just didn't come out ready to play," said Domantas Sabonis, who shot 6-for-16. "We were getting open looks. We just weren't converting, even easy ones under the basket.

"We're professionals. We have to show up. We just didn't do it."

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 3 minutes later. 

Myles Turner, who is 10 inches taller than Fred VanVleet, couldn't covert a post-up vs. the guard. Jeremy Lamb took a terrible turnaround jump shot over Kyle Lowry who he's 5 inches taller than and it missed by a mile. Turner missed a shot over Lowry. 

The bad offensive vibes were contagious for Indiana. And Toronto is playing without key contributors Marc Gasol and Norman Powell.

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, trampled and thoroughly outclassed. 

Standouts: 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, or 30.6%. Serge Ibaka (15 points, 15 rebounds) made the game's first three shots to get the Raptors out fast as 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 (14 points, 6 assists) went uncovered and missed all four attempts from 3 as the Raptors crowded Sabonis and sent aggressive double-teams on post-ups. "It changes our confidence and it changes their ability to pressure us and dictate the game," Brogdon said of the Pacers 4-for-23 shooting in the first quarter which led to them trailing 34-12. Brogdon shot 4-for-15 overall, missing all 4 attempts from 3. He's 3-for-25 from 3 in his last six games.

Injury front: 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. Lamb will get an MRI Monday morning, but he had to be helped up by a team athletic trainer after talking postgame and couldn't walk unassisted. "I'm not upset about it. He tried to make a play on it," Lamb said. "That happens all the time. He bumped me in the air and I hung on the rim. I don't think it was dirty. Looking back on it, I probably should've not held on to the rim. It's sore and swelling. Nothing cracked."