Pacers vs. Toronto Preview

The Pacers (22-36) head to Toronto tonight to play the Toronto Raptors. (32-24) The Pacers will be without five different players as O'neal and Tinsley are still injured, Granger is suspended for striking a Bulls player, Marquis Daniels has a sore back, and Shawne Williams was left home for his personal issues. What does that tell us? Super Rush is in the starting lineup!

Kareem 'Super' Rush will look to point the Pacers in the right direction tonight as he will be starting at shooting guard. In the last meeting with the Raptors on Feb. 25, Rush scored 13 points in 38 minutes of playing time. He went 5-11 from the field including 3-6 from three.

The Raptors seem to be running in stride as they have won 4 of their last 6 games and 4 in a row at home. Since the All-Star game Chris Bosh has been averaging 26.4 points and showing that video of his wasn't the only reason he was voted onto the team.

Key to the Game:
The key to tonights game is Ike Diogu, Andre Ownes, Stephen Graham, and David Harrison. Those 4 guys are the players coming off of the bench tonight. In the last game against the Raptors, David Harrison was the only one of those four who played and only played for 5 minutes. The only way the Pacers win tonight is if Super Rush plays every minute of the whole game and shoots at least 10 3's.
Go Pacers!

Raptors maul Pacers, forcing me to write corny headline

So the only prediction I had even close to right was SuperRush hitting 3 three-pointers. The Pacers played close all game, and were ahead quite a bit throughout the first quarter and second half, but all of that means nothing when you aren't ahead when the clock hits 00:00.

The game played out how every Pacers game plays out: The Lone Granger scores a bunch of points and gets a lot of rebounds, Dunleavy scores a bunch of points, and SuperRush does okay from three-point land while trying his hardest to miss difficult shots from all over the floor.

Bosh and Granger both came up big with double-doubles consisting of 20+ points and 10 rebounds a piece to lead their respective teams, but it was the Raptors' teamwork and consistent play down the stretch that won the game for Toronto.

The Pacers play Chicago at home Wednesday and a win will give them sole possession of third place in the Central Division standings. Everyone keep Jermaine O'Neal in your thoughts as he valiantly battles the flu.

Back Home Again...Pacers - Raptors (Preview)

The Pacers return home tonight to play a good Toronto Raptors team. They are coming off of a disappointing loss to the New Jersey Nets who they had beaten the night before.

The Pacers have lost their two previous match-ups with the Raptors this season, and need to win tonight to make sure they don't get too far out of the playoff race. In their first match-up, the Raptors won 104-93 with Chris Bosh and Jason Kapono both scoring over 20 points. Their game in November had the same result, with the Pacers losing this game 110-101. Chris Bosh also put up 22 points in that game as well. (LINK)

Jermaine O'Neal was an impact in these games as well, scoring 14 with 6 rebounds in the first game, but only played around 30 minutes in the second game adding 13 points and 1 rebound. Jamaal Tinsley was also a factor in both of those games, but is still out until early March with his knee injury.(LINK)

The Pacers will have a tough time tonight with a very good Toronto Raptors team. Jeff Foster will have to bang down low matching up with the 7 footer, Andrea Bargnani. The team will also have to find a way to slow down All-Star Chris Bosh as he has a good shot at scoring 30 today.
If Danny Granger and Mikey Dunleavy can combine for 40-50 points tonight and get some help from the rest of the team, the Pacers could have a chance tonight. Travis Diener also needs to perform his dribble and dish to find open threes. The Pacers need hold Bosh and Bargnani to both under 20 points and play tough defense on all the other players. Also, make sure they are playing a good offense finding open shots instead of trying to play isolation basketball. If they do these things the Pacers could have a crack at beating the Raptors.

-Sean
--No in-game update--