Pacers 90, Raptors 88
TORONTO - The Indiana Pacers ruined opening night for the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
The Pacers, who were down by eight points after three quarters, got the winning points on a driving hook shot with 2.1 seconds left in the game by George Hill to defeat the Raptors 90-88 before 19,800 at Air Canada Centre.
David West scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter for the Pacers. Paul George scored 14 and had 15 rebounds while Roy Hibbert also scored 14 points.
The Raptors got 21 points from Kyle Lowry who also had eight assists and seven rebounds. Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon scored 15 each and Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points.
The Raptors took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter but the Pacers had cut it to three on a layup by Lance Stephenson with 9:33 to go.
But with Calderon hitting two three-pointers in about a minute and half with Bargnani and West scoring in between, the Raptors led 84-76 with 5:58 to play.
The Pacers came back and, when Hill nailed a three-pointer and West hit a 16-foot turnaround bank shot with 2:37 to play, Toronto's lead was 86-85.
Lowry got it back up to a three-point lead with 2:15 to go when he hit on a pair of free throws. But West made a 15-footer to cut the lead to one again. Hill made one of two foul shots to tie the game 88-88 with 59 seconds to play.
DeMar DeRozan missed a layup with 44.8 seconds left. Indiana had the ball with 22.1 seconds to play and Hill worked the ball in to sink a driving hook. Bargnani missed a chance to tie at the final buzzer.
The Raptors opened up a five-point lead in the first four minutes of the second half with DeRozan, who was held to four points in the first half, scoring their first four points. Lowry added a layup after a fast break to put Toronto into a 58-53 lead.
Toronto went up by seven on a pair of free throws by Bargnani and were up by nine on a 12-foot jumper by Valanciunas. A 22-foot jumper by DeRozan made it 64-53 before David West ended the Pacers drought to make the score 64-55.
The Pacers crept to within four at 67-63 near the end of the third quarter. But Ed Davis scored the final four points of the quarter on a dunk and a turnaround hook to create the 71-63 margin after three quarters. Davis also blocked a shot by D.J. Augustin with 4.9 seconds left in the third.
The teams were tied 48-48 at halftime.
Lowry made all three free throws with 1:02 to play in the half to bring Toronto to within two points at 48-46 after the Pacers had gone on a spurt to lead by five points.
Aaron Gray evened the game at 48 when he made a hook shot with 27.9 seconds to play in the first half on an assist from Bargnani.
Lowry finished the half with a team-leading 13 points with five assists. Bargnani did not have a point in the second quarter after scoring 11 in the first. Jose Calderon scored seven in the first half.
Hibbert led the Pacers with 14 first-half points and added six rebounds. George had 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Pacers led 27-25 at the end of the first quarter on the strength of 10 points and five rebounds by George backed by nine points from Hibbert.
Bargnani led the Raptors with 11 in the first quarter while Valanciunas, a 20-year-old rookie from Lithuania, added six points and four rebounds.
NOTES: Bargnani started the game for the Raptors despite battling the flu for the past couple of days. ... The Raptors used their 18th different opening day lineup for their 18th season in the NBA. ... George Hill played for the Pacers after being listed as day-to-day because of a hip pointer. ... The Pacers' Danny Granger was out with a sore left knee. ... Indiana plays next in Charlotte on Friday. The Raptors play their next game Saturday in Brooklyn.
