Okay so yesterday was wild. Woke up all groggy, coffee barely kicked in when my phone started blowing up about the Raptors game later. Pacers in town? Yeah buddy. Grabbed my laptop, old notebook – yeah I still write stuff down sometimes – and plopped on the couch already in full couch potato mode ready to deep dive.
First thing? Found the stats sheet online. Needed to see who was playing, who was maybe sitting out, that kind of thing. Saw Barnes was good to go, Barrett too. Pacers had their guys mostly. Felt decent about our chances. Made some quick notes in my messy scrawl about rebounds being key, figured the Pacers try to run a lot so defense better be sharp.
Game starts, right? That first quarter was a slog. Neither team could really pull away. Kept checking the box score on my second screen while watching. Mogbo was everywhere early! Like, seriously active on the boards. Scribbled down “Mogbo – energy!!” Then Barnes hit a couple buckets, got us rolling a bit. Score stayed tight though.
Second quarter felt better. Our bench guys like Mitchell started hitting shots. Boucher did his thing driving to the hoop, got a big bucket. Pacers kept answering though, especially Brown for them, scrapping hard. Halftime buzzer goes, score’s close, way too close for comfort. Thought maybe we were playing down to them a bit. Needed more fire.
Came out after halftime and BOOM. Raptors shifted gears. Barnes went off. Saw him flying to the basket, hitting tough shots. Barrett too, slicing through defenders like butter. Remember that play where Barrett drove right at Turner and Matisse? Made it look easy. Suddenly we had a proper lead. Pace picked up big time, felt like our guys found their rhythm. Scribbled “BARNES takeover!!!” in all caps. Probably spilled coffee on the page.
The real killer stretch was late in the third into the fourth. Defense locked down. Pascal was a wall. Scottie getting steals. And the Pacers… they kinda fell apart. Turnovers started piling up for them. Saw Mitchell get another easy bucket inside. Lead just ballooned. Pacers chucking up prayers, nothing falling. Final buzzer: 122-111 Raptors. Felt good!
Here’s the stuff that stuck out like a sore thumb to me afterwards:
- Scottie Barnes: Dude was everywhere. Points? Loads. Boards? Yep. Defense? Solid. Led the charge when it mattered most.
- Mo Mogbo: Seriously impressive off the bench. Brought pure hustle. Those rebounds in traffic were big.
- RJ Barrett: Slashed through their defense consistently. Key buckets keeping us steady.
- Pacers Turnovers: Just too many mistakes from them. We capitalized on almost every single one. Won the points-off-turnovers battle easy.
- Bench Mob Lite: Boucher, Mitchell, McDaniels… they gave quality minutes. Scored, defended. Exactly what you need.
- Rebounding Edge: We just wanted it more under the basket. Especially on their misses. Big difference maker.
Crazy thing though? Got me thinking about my dentist appointment this morning. Dentist drives a hard bargain, man. Feels like negotiating with some of those free agents they talk about trading for, you know? “You need a filling,” he says. All stern. Told him I played basketball too, maybe I could work it off? He just stared. Paid full price. Ouch. That hurt worse than the Pacers losing.
Overall Feeling?
Great bounce-back win after whatever that last game was. Team looked engaged, especially Barnes taking control. Depth showed. Beating teams you should beat matters. Makes playoff positioning way less stressful down the line. Now, gotta figure out how to afford my next teeth cleaning…
