Pacers force Game 7 with easy win over Raps

On Tuesday, the Indiana Pacers collapsed in humiliating fashion. They held a 15-point late in the third quarter against the Toronto Raptors, then gave up a 23-2 run. Paul George, the Pacers’ star forward, stared at the stat sheet for a while in the locker room. When asked what stood out to him, he said it was just one stat: nine fourth-quarter points.

Three days after squandering an opportunity to come home with a 3-2 series lead, Indiana found itself in a similar position. Then it totally flipped the script.

The Pacers went into the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead. Less than 90 seconds later, they had extended it to 13 points. Toronto called timeout, hoping it could summon some clutch magic once again.

Out of the timeout, Indiana guard Rodney Stuckey — coming off the worst playoff performance of his career — nailed a 3-pointer. On the next possession, Stuckey turned Raptors guard Cory Joseph around with a ball-fake, then found big man Myles Turner for a layup, plus the foul. Turner screamed, as did the Bankers Life Fieldhouse crowd, and the rookie hit the ensuing free throw. Suddenly, the Pacers led by 19.

The final frame was a mirror image of Game 5 — it took Toronto almost five minutes to score, and it trailed by 28 points when coach Dwane Casey called timeout to put his reserves in. Including the final six points of the third quarter, the Pacers went on a 32-5 run. The final score was 101-83, and the Raptors shot a miserable 36.7 percent.

In the first five games, George carried Indiana’s offense, which was anemic when he was on the bench. Leading up to Game 6, there was talk that he might have to play all 48 minutes to keep Toronto at bay. Instead he played 40, shooting just 5-for-14 from the field, but he finally got some help from his …

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