TORONTO, Sporting Alert – Paul George scored 17 of his 33 points in the third quarter to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 100-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs series on Saturday. Download Complete Box Score
George shot 6 of 7 from the field in the third quarter and 10 of 13 in the second half, was 4 of 5 overall from 3-point range and had six assists and four rebounds for the Pacers (1-0) at Air Canada Centre.
Monta Ellis made three 3-pointers on his way to scoring 15 points and five assists while Solomon Hill made all 10 of his free throws en route to scoring 13 points for Indiana.
Cory Joseph led the Raptors (0-1) with 18 points on 5 of 6 shooting off the bench.
Jonas Valanciunas collected a playoff record 19 rebounds for Toronto and scored 12 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
All-Star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both struggled on the day for the Raptors, who entered the playoffs series as the second-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.
At the end of the game, DeRozan went 5 of 19 from the floor for 14 points while Lowry made just 3 of 13 from the field for 11 points and seven assists.
Saturday’s defeat sees the Raptors falling to 0-8 in the first game of an opening round playoff series.
Meanwhile, George Hill and Evan Turner each finished with 10 points for the Pacers, who shot 52.4 percent from 3-point range and 43 percent from the field overall.
.@Yg_Trece talks about today’s #PacersWin after missing the Playoffs last year. pic.twitter.com/x89LjdkzUU
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) April 16, 2016
Vogel on Turner’s first playoff game: “Looked like he’d been playing in playoffs 10 years.” #Pacers @Pacers @NBAhttps://t.co/P8U0IP7q8D
— FOX Sports Indiana (@FSIndiana) April 16, 2016
The Raptors were 38-percent from the field in shooting and 21 from long-range.
With the win on Saturday, the Indiana Pacers finally snapped a five-game losing streak at Air Canada Centre, after failing to win a game in Toronto since March 1, 2013.
Pacers held the biggest lead of the game with 13 points while there were four lead changes and the game was tied five times.
Game 2 in the series will also be in Toronto on Monday.
