TORONTO - There was no Game 7 heartbreak for the Toronto Raptors this time around.
Although the franchise had a 0-2 record in Game 7 playoff matchups prior to Sunday's Eastern Conference opening round showdown against the Indiana Pacers, the Raptors didn't let history haunt them.
The No. 2-seed Raptors emerged victorious 89-84 to eliminate the No. 7-seed Pacers in a 4-3 series win. More importantly, the team advanced in the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2001 and will next meet the Miami Heat in the Conference Semifinals.
Toronto's Air Canada Centre played host to the Raptors first-ever best-of-seven series triumph. The All-Star backcourt due of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had another low-accuracy shooting performance, going a combined 15-for-46, but DeRozan in specific made it up with volume, scoring a game-high 30 points on a franchise playoff record 32 shots.
Lowry says DeRozan played the necessary style to get the job done.
"He emptied the clip, that's what he did tonight," Lowry told reporters after the game. "That's what his goal was. We gonna ride and he's going to empty that clip. I don't care if he shot 40 times, he emptied the clip and we won, and that's all that matters."
Not only did the Raptors avoid being the only Eastern Conference team to be bounced from the playoffs by a lower ranked opponent, they also prevented Game 7 losses from becoming something of a calling card.
In 2001, what was the only season the Raptors advanced past the opening round, Vince Carter missed a Game 7 game-winning shot that caused the team to be eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers in the Conference Semifinals. In 2014, Paul Pierce of the Brooklyn Nets blocked a shot at the buzzer to send the team packing in crushing fashion.
Some all-too-familiar scenery occurred in the dwindling seconds when just 11 fourth-quarter points for the Raptors allowed the Pacers to narrow the lead to just three. The Pacers were in position to tie the game and force overtime, but the Raptors refused to experience playoff disappointment again, doing what was necessary on the defensive end to emerge from the win-or-go-home situation on top.
The team advanced past the opening round for just the second time in club history and the first time in 15 years. Now that the team has moved past the ugly stigma of early playoff elimination, coach Dwane Casey says he expects a better version of his club against the Heat.
"We got the monkey off our backs," Casey says. "I think guys will be freer now. We can't be relaxed. We have a tough Miami team coming in after a tough Indiana team. We can't relax, but I think we'll play freer."
Despite being pushed to the brink, the Raptors finally got over the hump to snap a skid of six consecutive playoff series losses.
The team can now readjust its goals to a broader scope, and that begins with beating the Heat.
Regular season play saw the Raptors best the Heat in three of four head-to-head meetings. DeRozan was the star of those games, scoring a combined 101 points in the three Raptors victories.
DeRozan will look to continue that trend in Game 1, which takes place at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night (8 p.m. ET). Coach Casey says he anticipates an even more difficult series, especially with Heat standouts Dwayne Wade and Goran Dragic playing at a high level.
"Dwyane Wade is back to being a young Dwyane Wade," Casey says. "He is a handful, he knows how to play in a playoff situation. We've prepared for him before but he could will a team to a victory. … Dragic is playing big time. He is leading their team off the ball when Wade doesn't have it, (Hassan) Whiteside is patrolling the paint, so our work will be cut out for us not only on the defensive end but on the offensive end also."
