Raptors stage wild comeback to stun Pacers

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Just when you thought the Toronto Raptors were headed toward another embarrassing postseason loss, they staged a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to snatch the victory away from the Indiana Pacers. With the 102-99 win, the Raptors are up 3-2 in the series and are one win away from advancing past the first round for the first time since 2001.

The whole thing was nearly ruined by Solomon Hill at the buzzer. Hill hit what would’ve been a tying 3-pointer, but after review the ball was still barely on his fingertips when the buzzer sounded. No good.

Now the the Pacers are left scrambling for answers and help for their superstar as they head back to Indianapolis for Game 6 on Friday.

1. Quicken up that shot release, Solomon Hill!

One fascinating development with the Indiana role players in this series is the newfound outside shooting stroke of Solomon Hill. He was a 32-percent 3-point shooter this season, the same number he has shot for his career, and has generally been disappointing enough that the Pacers declined his option for next season on a manageable rookie deal. But the playoffs have been much different. He has found a way to become a big time 3-point shooter and it’s a big help for Paul George.

In Game 5, he was 3 of 3 from deep, pushing his postseason shooting to 8 of 14 (57 percent) from downtown. He would’ve been 4 of 4, of course, if he had received the pass a split second quicker, or if he had shorter fingers. George found him with about a second remaining in the left corner, but he just couldn’t get it off in time. To be fair, he didn’t exactly rush his release. To the naked eye, it sure seemed like he had time to get it off, but he chose to take his nomral shooting stroke, and in the end, it was a bit too casual.

NOPE pic.twitter.com/dxHtCSdLZX

— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) April 27, 2016

This could’ve been a killer for the Raptors to go to overtime after their incredible comeback in the fourth quarter. They still would’ve had five more minutes to win the game at home, but that’s a tough shot to endure after so much emotion gets wrapped up in the big run.

2. About that 23-2 fourth-quarter run

All of that good will the Raptors built up in Games 2 and 3 looked to be eroding. They had a horrendous effort in Game 4 to allow the Pacers to tie up the series, and then throughout the majority of Game 5, the Raptors were struggling at home. They couldn’t stop the 3-point barrage of the Pacers. They couldn’t stop Paul George. They couldn’t get …

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