Nate Taylor

IndyStar

He has a full beard that a lumberjack would be proud to own. He screams after scoring baskets and angrily collecting rebounds in a Toronto Raptors uniform. His left palm is wrapped in black athletic tape, his left elbow protected by a slim pad. He is 7-feet tall, 255 pounds and is from Lithuania. His points are produced by power and strength, not by speed and finesse.

And he has inflicted the most pain on the Indiana Pacers and has given them their biggest problem through two games of their first-round series.

His name is Jonas Valanciunas.

The Pacers are tied with the Raptors at one game apiece in the series and have home-court advantage. Yet, they have been bruised and bullied by Valanciunas, who led the Raptors to victory Monday night with a dominating performance of 23 points, a playoff career-high, and 15 rebounds. In the two games so far, Valanciunas is averaging 17.5 points and 17 rebounds.

Not bad for Valanciunas, at-best the team's third scoring option in the regular season when he averaged 12.8 points and 9.1 rebounds in 60 games. But very bad, though, for the Pacers, who have struggled to keep Valanciunas away from the basket, whether boxing him out for rebounds or providing the adequate amount of resistance when he rolls to the basket after setting a screen on the perimeter.

“We’ve got to be sharper,” rookie Myles Turner told reporters after Monday’s game. “It’s definitely a lot more physical than the regular season. The refs are letting a lot more go so we’ve got to be just as physical as (Valanciunas) is.”

Turner might be the Pacers’ only hope of denying Valanciunas moving forward in the series. He has at least blocked Valanciunas’ shot a few times, disrupted his rhythm in the series opener Saturday and has not been completely overmatched when fighting for rebounds.

Turner told reporters Monday that he should be close to full health when Game 3 starts Thursday night. Turner missed a portion of Monday’s game with a sore lower back after he landed awkwardly on Toronto’s Kyle Lowry when driving to the basket.

Turner has performed better than starting center Ian Mahinmi, who has been limited with a sprained lower back, a nagging injury that did not allow him to finish Monday’s game. Coach Frank Vogel told reporters Monday that Mahinmi is listed as day-to-day. Lavoy Allen and Turner would likely play the majority of the minutes and face Valanciunas on Thursday if Mahinmi’s back continues to bother him.

No matter who defends Valanciunas, Vogel wants the Pacers to replicate the Raptors’ defensive performance from Monday’s game.

“Their group is really tied together, really energetic, they protect the rim really well and they get out and try and guard their own man,” Vogel told reporters of the Raptors on Monday. “You don’t win 56 games by accident. That’s a great defensive team we are playing against.”

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In the first half of Monday’s game, Valanciunas was able to help extend the Raptors’ lead by scoring multiple times off the high screen-and-roll play with Lowry.

Lowry would use a screen from Valanciunas to dribble by one of the Pacers’ guards, usually George Hill, and draw one of Indiana's big men, usually Mahinmi, away from the basket. Valanciunas would then run by Mahinmi and all Lowry had to do was loft up a short lob pass near the basket. Valanciunas finished the play by catching the ball and putting it ball through the hoop with ease.

Several of Valanciunas’ baskets on that play featured either Monta Ellis or Paul George, the weak-side defenders, not rotating over into the paint fast enough.

“The biggest thing is that the guards have to come back and help the bigs and try to not let them get behind us,” Ellis said of defending Valanciunas. “Really just matching his energy, his toughness that he is playing with and we’ll be all right.”

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Valanciunas, after the best two playoff performances of his young career, remained calm when he spoke with reporters Monday. He mentioned how he would not allow himself to get too excited. He spoke with the understanding that the Pacers would likely spend a large amount of time Wednesday focusing their attention on him before Thursday’s game.

“It’s just Game 2,” Valanciunas told reporters. “We've got at least three to go. So, I've got to keep it quiet. I’ve got to do the same thing and come with the same energy in Game 3. The job is not done yet.”

George said the same when looking ahead to Thursday’s game and defending Valanciunas.

“The playoffs are all about adjustments,” George told reporters, “and we have to figure it out.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

Pacers at Raptors, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Fox Sports Indiana, NBATV

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Valuable Valanciunas

Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas is averaging 17.5 points and 17 rebounds vs. the Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference finals. It’s only two games but if he maintains those averages, he’d be the 14th player to hit those numbers in the postseason. It’s an impressive list with a familiar name the most recent player to do it: