The Indiana Pacers nearly pulled off a wild comeback, but a rejected shot at the buzzer left them on the wrong end of a 94-93 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Summer League play.
Indiana’s night began in a hole. The Pacers made just one of their first 19 shots from the field and trailed 24-6 a little more than eight minutes into the first quarter. For a stretch, nothing was going in, the ball wasn’t moving, and the offense looked completely stuck.
Then the Pacers flipped the script. After that rough opening, Indiana ripped off a 39-19 run over the final 14 minutes of the first half and went into the break tied, turning what had looked like a runaway into a game again.
The second half settled into a tight back-and-forth battle, and Indiana leaned heavily on its frontcourt to keep pace. Rienk Mast, Gabe McGlothan, and Jalen Slawson were the only three Pacers consistently finding efficient offense, and they carried the load almost by themselves. The trio combined to shoot 17-for-31 and score 60 of Indiana’s 93 points.
Mast gave Indiana an 87-81 lead with a two-point basket, but Toronto answered by trimming the margin to 89-88. Slawson then finished a top-in to push the Pacers back ahead 91-99.
Indiana got another stop and, with 1:59 left, Slawson attacked the rim for a driving dunk that stretched the lead to 93-88. That turned out to be the final field goal the Pacers would make.
Toronto closed fast. Seth Lundy hit a 28-foot three-pointer to make it a two-point game, then Jaden Bradley tied it at 93 with two free throws. On the Raptors’ next trip, Bradley was fouled again and split his free throws, giving Toronto a 94-93 lead and leaving Indiana one last chance.
With the shot clock off, the ball went to Braden Smith.
Pacers’ game-winning attempt was rejected. They were down 94-93 to Raptors and called a timeout with 12.5s left.
Another thrilling finish.Mast had 23/10 off the bench, Jalen Slawson added 21/8 and demonstrated his versatility. Braden Smith was scoreless, but dished 9asts. pic.twitter.com/jR2vBfsPKp
Smith drove deep into the paint and found Mast at the rim for what looked like the winning basket. But as Mast went up, Lundy came flying in and volleyball-spiked the shot attempt to half court before letting out a ferocious yell as the buzzer sounded.
Indiana’s comeback came up one play short, and the Pacers dropped to 1-2 in Summer League.
Smith’s night was rough from the scoring side. He finished with zero points on 0-for-7 shooting, though he did hand out nine assists and continued to show his passing ability.
The bigger issue is how hard those shots have been to create. Smith has had trouble separating off the dribble and getting clean looks, and when he has found openings, he hasn’t been able to finish them. It’s only three Summer League games, so it’s too soon to draw firm conclusions, but if he’s struggling to create his own offense here, it raises questions about what that will look like against NBA-caliber defenders.
Taelon Peter added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Mast finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Slawson posted 21 points and 8 rebounds, and McGlothan contributed 16 points on 3-of-4 shooting with 6 rebounds.
Indiana’s next chance to respond comes Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves in its fourth Summer League game.
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For a roster trying to sort out who can hold up on the perimeter and who can keep an offense from getting comfortable, that kind of showing lands with some extra weight. It was only one game in July, but it was also the sort of early look that can expose a real issue before the Pacers have much time to smooth it over. [Read more 🡒]