Toronto loses their last game before heading into their first ever Christmas Day game

So you’re telling me the team that ruined the Lakers’ win streak is currently dragging the Raps on this mild Monday night in Indiana and, they are only 6th in the East?! I feel like that’s not going to stay this way for long. Indiana is actually quite stacked this season. They received former Buck Malcolm Brogdon who is in the running for Most Improved Player this season. Brogdon actually voiced how he felt and said that he would have stayed with the Buck’s if they would have him. Now the fun thing about this is, he didn’t even play tonight. Not to mention Franchise player Victor Olipido was out due to injury as well. The rest of the squad fought tooth and nail. Could you imagine these two players did play?

Fun Fact: Brogdon joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969–70) as the only players in Bucks history to win Rookie of the Year, and became the first player drafted in the second round to win Rookie of the Year since 1965. 

Tensions rose high in the second quarter when Lowry had an interaction with a fan. The refa quickly went to the Replay Centre to see what happened. What did the fan say? Use your imagination and you’ll probably guess correctly. 

Right before the half-time buzzer rang, there was a moment of worry for Ronde Hollis-Jerfferon as Ibaka accidentally kicked him in the face after slamming it down. Not to  worry, he was fine. Raps down by ten, 55-44. In yesterday’s game against the Mavs, Toronto scored more than that (47 pts) in the 4th quarter alone! 

Fun Fact: Domantas Sabonis father,  Aryvdas played with the Portland Trailblazers from 1995-2003 and was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. 

Toronto was down the whole time but they did come within 3 pts in the 3rd quarter but Indiana wouldn’t let up. Toronto’s backcourt put in a lot of work tonight including VanVleet and Lowry. Lowry and VanVleet had a combined 51 pts and 20 ast.

Toronto had a chance to tie the game late in the third frame. Lowry had back to back three balls bringing them within 1 pt and then with seconds left, drove into the lane and gave Toronto their first lead of the game since the score was 3-2. Lowry scored the final 8 pts of the 3rd quarter for Toronto.

It came down to the wire watching the Pacers go on a 6-0 run . Aaron Holiday hit one at the top of the arch and then T.J Warren bit a corner there in front of the Raps bench to give Indiana a lead of 107-105.  With 40.4 seconds left in the game, Toronto has one timeout and Indiana has 2. 

Lowry drives to the net tying the game at 107 forcing Indiana to call a timeout. Raptors have possession and Lowry holds it hoping to have the game winning shot but unfortunately is a little too short and it goes into overtime!

Toronto must have got on the refs nerves because they were calling everything and some on these Raptor players! Ouch! First VanVleet with the foul and then Ibaka. The Pacers were up 119-115 with 10.8 seconds to play in the game. No matter what Toronto did, the Pacers were just too good.

The Pacers hit 18 three pointers while the Raps drained 11. 

There will be no NBA games tomorrow but five on Christmas day. Toronto will have a night’s rest before playing their first ever Christmas day game. They will face off against the Celtics at home with tip off at 12:00pm. Which gives you enough time to open your presents, drink your coffee and clean up all of that wrapping paper. 

Indiana 119-115 Toronto