Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Game 4: Raptors at Pacers, 3 p.m. Saturday, TNT





The little rubber ball came flying out of the crowd after the first technical foul on the Pacers, or maybe after the second. Hard to keep track, really, but this ball was easy to spot because it was pink and it was heading right for Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

It bounced one time on the floor near Toronto’s bench, then landed smack on Casey’s head before bouncing back onto the floor. Casey leaned down, picked it up, handed it to an usher. Went back to coaching.

Someone, please show that clip to the Pacers.

Because that’s how you focus.

The Pacers? They weren’t focused, weren’t mature, weren’t good Thursday night in a 101-85 loss in Game 3 that surrendered the home-court advantage they’d earned in Toronto.

“We didn’t do our job,” Paul George said. “This one, it sucks. We didn’t take care of business on our home court.”

Pacers: 'We didn't do our job'

The seventh-seeded Pacers aren’t supposed to win four games in this series — No. 2 seeds are 33-1 against No. 7 seeds since 1999 — but they’re not supposed to lose even one game like this. Not with a dud at home, low at times on effort and completely devoid of composure.

Not with George, who had led the team with such skill and class through two games, leading the Pacers down a much uglier road in Game 3. It was George who missed a dunk in the first quarter, immediately acted as if he got fouled, then got really angry. Next time down the court he went one-on-five, just him and the Raptors, and Paul George won. He’s that good, and after he blew past DeMar DeRozan and crashed into Patrick Patterson and hung in the air and made the basket, George looked at the nearest referee and screamed, “And one!”

George kept staring at the referee, kept complaining until he was whistled for a technical foul. The Pacers trailed just 23-17, but in hindsight, the game was over. DeRozan hit the free throw after the technical foul, starting a 15-4 Raptors run that became a 38-21 lead, then 53-30, then the final score.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” forward Solomon Hill said. “When you get down like that, it kind of takes the mental (composure) out of people.”

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On the bright side, this debacle wasn’t watched by a full house. It was announced as a sellout, but I’m telling you: Not even close. The gold T-shirts laid out on each chair disguised just how many seats were empty — until fans started taking those free shirts, exposing hundreds of green chairs, including most of three entire sections behind one basket.

This was a bad night all around, I’m saying, and not just for the home team — but for the home crowd. The empty seats, the rubber ball thrown from the crowd that hit the opposing coach in the head, and then the moment when this crowd surrendered. It happened with 5:26 left, when Kyle Lowry hit a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer to give the Raptors an 88-69 lead.

Vogel called timeout. The crowd left. It was a gold rush right out of the building, with several fans carrying their extra gold T-shirt out the door.

The Pacers saw their own fans give up on them, because sometimes you get what you deserve. When this game ended, there were maybe 2,000 fans in the whole building, many of them wearing Raptors jerseys and waving signs that read, “We the North.”

The Pacers? They the embarrassing.

The Pacers were outrebounded 45-38 and had as many technical fouls (three) as steals (three). Fans that stuck around saw Rodney Stuckey pick up a technical foul for tripping a Toronto player, and they saw Myles Turner pick up a technical foul for complaining about a foul call, then complaining some more, and finally spiking the ball to earn the "T."

Those who stuck around saw the Pacers' frontcourt again get manhandled on the glass by one player, Toronto center Jonas Valanciunas, who had as many rebounds (14) as the Pacers’ top three big men combined. Turner, who needs to start Game 4, had 17 points and eight rebounds. Ian Mahinmi, starting despite a sore back, had seven points and four rebounds. Lavoy Allen, starting despite an ineffective track record, had no points and two rebounds.

Paul George had pointed words for (presumably) his frontcourt, saying the following: “We’re treating this like it’s a regular-season game. We’re failing to be the physical team. There’s one guy who’s doing it and doing it at an amazing job, and that’s Valanciunas. We need to match his physicality, and we’re not doing that.”

George also had words (presumably) for his coach, offering that the Pacers need to call fewer plays and play more free-style.

“Our best offense is to get into attack mode, and I don’t think we’re doing that enough,” George said. “The plays we’re running, this team (we’re playing) knows it.”

George also had words (definitely) for the referees, blaming them for his technical foul — “It’s the playoffs,” he said. “You’ve got to let some stuff slide” — and for his shooting difficulties (6-of-19).

Pacers turnover home-court advantage

“A lot of my shots,” George said of Raptors defender DeMarre Carroll, “he was getting away with hitting my elbow, hitting my wrists.”

George is frustrated and lashing out, and it’s hard to blame him. For the third consecutive game he had almost no help. George finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and that wasn’t nearly good enough. It’s as simple as this: Unless George is astoundingly good, the Pacers can’t beat the Raptors. Not if his teammates are as useless as they’ve been for three games.

The exception was Turner, whose three blocked shots included an emphatic rejection of DeRozan that ended with Turner screaming into the crowd — which ended with DeRozan turning around and shoving Turner into silence.

Turner complied. He stopped screaming. The crowd never really started screaming, then decided to beat traffic home midway through the fourth quarter.

Poor folks. They came to an NBA playoff game, and all they got was a lousy T-shirt.

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

Game 4: Raptors at Pacers, 3 p.m. Saturday, TNT