Written by Matt Mazzeo at ESPN.com
So much for playing Game 6 with a Game 7 mentality.
With a chance to finally move on to the second round for the first time in 15 years, the Toronto Raptors had their worst second half in franchise playoff history, getting outscored by 22 points as they were routed by the Indiana Pacers 101-83 on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round series will be played Sunday at Air Canada Centre.
“We have to take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize what basketball team we want to be,” Raptors power forward Patrick Patterson said.
“Do we want to be the team that won 56 games? Do we want to be the team that got two All-Stars to the All-Star Game, set new records, went on long winning streaks and played great defense in the first half of the season? Or do we want to be the team that has come into Indiana the past two times and got blown out of the water? We have to decide what we want to be. We have to decide what team we want to be, and that’s it.”
Toronto jumped out to an 18-6 lead and held a four-point lead at halftime but was outscored 31-20 in the third quarter and 30-19 in the fourth quarter.
“I’m disappointed just in the fact that all of us in that locker room let this opportunity slip away, but again that’s why you play 82 games to get home-court advantage,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We understand the fight and physicality we have to play with. I thought we started out the game that way, but for whatever reason we missed some shots and we carried it to the other end and we can’t allow that to happen. That was the turning point in the game.”
The Raptors are now 1-5 in close-out games and have never won a best-of-seven postseason series.
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