Pacers collapse in 4th, spoil huge night by Paul George in loss to Raptors

12:21 AM ET

TORONTO — Paul George sat in relative silence in the visitors locker room at the Air Canada Centre late Tuesday night. The Indiana Pacers’ superstar had scored 39 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out eight assists, nabbed two steals and blocked a shot in 41 minutes, but it wasn’t enough. The Pacers blew a 17-point lead and lost 102-99 to the Toronto Raptors, putting George and his teammates on the brink of playoff elimination.

The All-Star forward let his feet soak in an ice bucket as he alternated between checking his cellphone and scanning the box score balanced on his leg. When George turned to the stats in front of him, he couldn’t help but focus on the same number that surprised the rest of the league.

“Only one stat,” George said, when asked what popped out at him. “Nine points in the fourth. It’s the only thing to look at — nine points in the fourth.”

The sudden turn of events in the final 12 minutes of Tuesday’s game left George and his teammates shell-shocked. They were outscored 25-9 in the fourth, registering the fewest points in a fourth quarter in franchise history, according to ESPN Stats & Information. George scored just two points in that stretch. Seemingly everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for a Pacers group that will replay the quarter in their minds over and over if they don’t come back and win the series.

“I thought we played a little nervous, a little tight, on our heels,” George admitted. “We just didn’t finish. We didn’t finish around the basket well enough. We didn’t see the open guys when they helped. But I think, to look at …

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