Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

They are going to Toronto with no pressure, their pockets overflowing with house money. After an uneven regular season, the Indiana Pacers have overachieved in the playoffs, forcing Game 7 against the heavily favored Toronto Raptors on Sunday in a loud, nervous arena that will feel to the Raptors like a vice to the throat.

The seventh-seeded Pacers would be celebrated for winning this series. The No. 2 Raptors would be mocked for losing it. There is a difference.

“The heavy burden of history,” is what Raptors coach Dwane Casey was calling it Friday, and that was before the burden of history shattered Toronto’s glass backbone in a 101-83 blowout loss that was nowhere near as close as that score suggests. Before emptying their bench for the final 3 minutes, the Pacers led by 28. After falling behind 20-8 late in the first quarter, the Pacers outscored the Raptors 89-49 – they outscored the Raptors by 40 – over the next 36 minutes.

Insider: Pacers do more than survive to force Game 7

The Raptors – these players, that coach – have a history of disappearing in the playoffs, and they are going, going …

The Pacers? They haven’t gone anywhere. They won’t go away, and they had every chance to do that after blowing Game 5 in Toronto, taking a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter but scoring four points over the next 11 minutes in a 102-99 loss.

But it was the Pacers who showed up loose and relaxed for Game 6, Paul George dropping off a pass behind his back to Solomon Hill for a 3-pointer and Ty Lawson breaking Kyle Lowry’s ankles on a playground crossover and Rodney Stuckey humiliating Cory Joseph with a mix-tape pass fake.

Rodney Stuckey, bench rebound from Game 5 meltdown

This series has been so bizarre, momentum so elusive, that anything could happen in Game 7. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the Raptors remember who they are – the No. 2 seed who won 56 games and finished just one game behind Cleveland for first in the Eastern Conference – and pry their own fingers off their necks.

That’s the story in Toronto. The story here? The Pacers have overachieved by moving within one game of a near statistical impossibility. Since 1999, including the second-seeded Spurs’ four-game sweep of No. 7 Memphis out West this year, No. 7 seeds have gone 1-34 in seven-game series against No. 2s.

That is a stat – No. 7 seeds are 1-34 in this round – the Pacers didn’t know until they saw it last week in my column. That is a stat they have discussed among themselves in the locker room.

Let’s discuss this: By forcing a Game 7, the two most important people in the Indiana locker room have legitimized themselves.

Let’s start with Paul George, a top-10 NBA talent who has played this series with a ferocity that has been as consistent as it has been spectacular. Prone to disappearing late in games in the regular season, and for whole games when the mood strikes, George has been the best player on the floor in every game this series, even Game 4, when he scored a modest 19 points but manhandled DeMar DeRozan into 4-of-15 shooting and eight points.

Doyel: Critics don't change Frank Vogel

George is averaging 27.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists. He is producing not merely like the All-Star he is, but like the MVP he could be someday. And he has been even better on defense, doing the following to DeRozan, the No. 9 scorer in the NBA:

DeRozan failed to reach double figures once in 81 regular-season games. He has failed twice in six games against George.

DeRozan failed to go to the foul line three times in the previous three years. He has failed to get there twice in six games against George.

George also has shown leadership in the most unusual way, by backing off the need to carry this team after Game 3 and sharing instead the responsibility with teammates. The Pacers responded by winning Games 4 and 6, and should have won Game 5.

The other Pacer to take an obvious step forward this postseason is coach Frank Vogel, who has been the target of criticism – some legitimate, given the team’s large number of narrow losses, but most of it unfair given its roster.

Vogel’s reputation for defensive acumen has been reinforced by a series in which the Pacers have held the Raptors five percentage points below their regular-season shooting – from 45.1 percent to 40.1 percent in this series – while turning a Raptors strength (1.43-to-1 ratio of assists to turnovers) into a weakness (1.05-to-1 in this series).

Vogel’s job security was debated locally after the Game 5 loss – the nays had it – but the Pacers’ response to Game 6, and forcing Game 7 in a No. 2-vs.-7 series, should end that.

The Pacers who show up for Game 7 ought to be as relaxed as the Raptors are tight, given Toronto’s difficulties this series and recent playoff history. The fourth-seeded Raptors were swept in the first round last season by No. 5 Washington. In 2014 they lost as the No. 3 seed to sixth-seeded Brooklyn, after taking a 3-2 edge into Game 6.

The Paces are not above pointing out that history. They are partly in the Raptors' head as it is. Might as well go all the way.

"It’s pressure on both teams to come out with a win," Paul George was saying after Game 6, "but yeah, it’s added pressure on them. Being at home and their troubles getting out of the first round."

Admitted DeRozan: “It means everything for us to advance. The season would be a failure if we don’t make it out of this first round.”

They are uptight in Toronto, scared to lose and playing that way. The Pacers are loose but determined, their locker room relaxed and quiet after Game 6. It is not time to celebrate. Not yet.

“I believe we can play with this team,” Vogel was saying after Game 6. “I have great respect for them, but I really believe we’re hitting our stride at the right time, playing our best basketball of the season when it matters.”

The Pacers have one more game to play, one more bet to make on themselves, and they are all in.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.