TORONTO — In the span of a minute, Kyle Lowry drilled a three-pointer. He took a charge from six-foot-eight bulldozer Thaddeus Young. And he drew a foul for a three-point play.
That was in the game's first four minutes.
Playing for the first time since missing 10 of the previous 11 games, Lowry made his presence felt early in the Toronto Raptors' 121-105 victory over Indiana on Sunday.
The four-time all-star, who'd been out with first a thigh contusion then lower back pain, had 12 points and eight assists in 32 minutes. Kawhi Leonard sat out the second night of back-to-back games for body maintenance, but eight Raptors scored in double figures. Norm Powell had a season-high 23 points, Serge Ibaka finished with 18, Danny Green had 15, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet had 12, Greg Monroe had 11 and Delon Wright had 10.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 21 to top the Pacers (26-13), who saw their six-game win streak snapped.
Coming off a big 123-116 victory the previous night in Milwaukee, and kicking off a three-game homestand, the Raptors (30-12) got off to a strong start and maintained it throughout the game, taking a double-digit lead in the second quarter, and stretching it to 96-84 to start the fourth.
The Pacers pulled to within eight with a 4-0 run to start the fourth. But the visitors' surge was short-lived, thanks largely to Powell, who had nine points in five minutes. His basket with 6:13 to play put the Raptors up by 17 points.
Cory Joseph drilled a three to pull the Pacers to within three with 1:34 to play, but fellow Canadian Chris Boucher answered with a three 10 seconds later.
The Raptors shot 51.8 per cent on the night, and 51.5 per cent from behind the arc. And a night after the bench was embarassed by the Bucks, the second unit outscored Indiana's 52-27.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse had mentioned potentially easing Lowry back into action. The guard is clearly not 100 per cent — he laid on his back rather than sit on the bench when he wasn't on the floor.
"We'll probably keep the rotations a little short for him early and then try to get him through moments of the game," Nurse said before tipoff. "Always, we'd like to have him in at the end and all that stuff, so we're going to try to ease him in, that's a good way of putting it."
Leonard has yet to play in back-to-back games this season. The team remains cautious with the star's health after he missed all but nine games last season with San Antonio.
"Just resting him after a heavy week. Think it's just the best thing to do," Nurse said.
The Raptors had the hot hand from the opening whistle, shooting 65 per cent in the first quarter and taking a six-point lead on a three by VanVleet with 2:10 left in the frame. They took a 37-35 lead into the second.
A Green three-pointer stretched Toronto's lead to 11 points four minutes before halftime, and the Raptors took a 70-63 lead into the break.
The Raptors host Vince Carter and the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, then wrap up their homestand against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
