For the third season in a row, the Toronto Raptors have lost game 1 at home in the playoffs. In 2014, they fell to the Brooklyn Nets, last year the Washington Wizards handed them the first game home loss and this season the Indiana Pacers dealt them the game 1 death blow in the 2016 NBA Playoffs.
The Raptors All-Star backcourt struggled to get anything going all game as Paul George took over the second half and led his Pacers to victory. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined to score 25 points, they shot 8-32 from the field including 1-10 from three point range, a far cry form their combined 45 points per game during the season. Cory Joseph was the leading man for the Raptors scoring 18 points coming off the bench and his playoff experience showed as he was the only Raptor to get anything going consistently. Paul George struggled early on but he came roaring back to score 27 of his 33 points in the second half to cement a Pacers win. George played 38 minutes in total, shot 12-22 from the field, handed out six assists, grabbed four rebounds and swiped four steals.
The Raptors had two big glaring missteps in their contest with Indiana, their inefficiency to hit from three, shooting 4-19 from deep and their 19 turnovers proved to be costly and detrimental in their loss. Something is clearly wrong with the Raptors considering now in three straight years they have struggled to get that all important game one win. Now, Toronto has their backs against the wall once again and Indiana stole a big game on the road and teams that win game 1 in the NBA playoffs win the series 77% of the time.
