Thursday night, when the Raptors took on the Pacers in Indiana, Bismack Biyombo did something that no other player for Toronto had ever accomplished.
In a 101-94 overtime victory in Indiana, Biyombo recorded a 16-point, 25-rebound game and set a franchise record in rebounding. The previous high was 24 by Donyell Marshall in 2004. It was also Biyombo’s second game with 20+ boards for the Raptors, tying him with Chris Bosh for the most in Toronto’s history.
The rebounding started early, and Biyombo hauled in six of the Raptors’ 14 total rebounds in the first. Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola led the offense for Toronto, scoring six and seven points, respectively, while Jordan Hill looked almost unstoppable. However, Hill tallied all 11 of his points and all six of his boards in the first. Toronto led 27-25 after one.
In the second, both teams shot very, very poorly. The Raptors hit just 21% of their attempts, and Indiana wasn’t much better at 29%. Paul George and George Hill did manage to get something going on offense, and the two shot 5/7 between them for 12 of Indy’s 21 points. The Raptors were dreadful all around. Their all-star duo shot 2/10 for eight points, and they put up just 19 as a group. Biyombo, however, was still attacking the glass and pulled down seven more rebounds.
The Pacers entered the break with a three-point lead, 46-43, and the two teams combined for a field goal percentage of 34%.
Poor shooting remained the theme for the third and Indiana scored 14 points on 39% shooting. The Raptors shot a worse percentage than the Pacers but made two more threes than they did which resulted in a six-point lead. Biyombo had his best quarter yet and hauled in a staggering nine rebounds — as many as the Pacers had as a team. He also added five points.
Both teams jostled back-and-forth throughout the last quarter. With about 1:40 left, Paul George hit a layup, got fouled, and hit the free throw to put the Pacers up one. DeRozan came right back down and hit an 18′ jump shot to give the Raptors an 85-84 lead. With a minute left, George Hill and DeRozan both miss their shots, and the Raptors still led with under 20 seconds left.
Soloman Hill came up with a steal on Kyle Lowry, and Patterson subsequently fouled Monta Ellis, who hit just one-of-two to send the game to OT.
Toronto ran away with the lead in OT. Lowry and DeRozan combined for 12 of the 16 points and shot 4/6 combined. Paul George shot 0/6 in the period, and Indiana hit just three field goals.
Both Lowry and DeRozan had 28 for Toronto, and Hill and George had 18 apiece for the Pacers. The Raptors are at home for the Celtics on Friday while Indiana is at home for OKC on Saturday.
Around The League
John Wall triple-doubled for the second-straight game and Washington beat Philadelphia 99-94. Wall tallied 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 14 assists. The Sixers were led by Ish Smith’s 20 points, seven assists, and three steals while Nerleans Noel had 14p/16r/7s.
Doug McDermott has his third straight 20-point game with 25 in a win against the Nets, 118-102. Jimmy Butler had 22 points and seven assists to help. Bojan Bogdanovic followed up his career-high 44 with 26 points on 10/17 shooting.
Tony Parker recorded 16 assists in a victory over the Trail Blazers, 118-110. Parker finished just one assist shy of his career-high and registered just his fourth career game with 15+. Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 each while Lillard and McCollum had 23 and 26, respectively.
Scores
TOR 101 - IND 94
WASH 99 - PHI 94
CHA 109 - MIA 106
DEN 98 - ATL 116
BKN 102 - CHI 118
MEM 86 - MIL 96
POR 110 - SAS 118
PHX 69 - UTAH 103
