INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Paul George scored 18 of his 35 points in the third quarter Tuesday night and the desperate Indiana Pacers rallied from a 19-point, first-half deficit and blew out Toronto 108-90.
The Pacers ended a four-game losing streak that saw them slide from a tie for the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference to the very real possibility of missing the postseason.
DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, which had won its previous two.
It was an astounding comeback for Indiana, which was so lethargic in the first half it needed an 8-2 spurt just to get within 51-40 at halftime.
The game was marred by a shoving match between Indiana's Lance Stephenson and DeRozan with 3.3 seconds left. The melee spilled down the sideline and into the Pacers' bench, where Toronto's P.J. Tucker was still jawing with Pacers players.
Stephenson, Tucker and DeRozan all received technical fouls.
Stephenson admitted that he got caught up in the moment of the last play and apologizes to the Raptors. pic.twitter.com/nk2Wk32XIQ
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) April 5, 2017
But it couldn't taint one of the Pacers' biggest turnarounds of the season - a game they hope will help them make a final push into the postseason.
Indiana took its first lead on Jeff Teague's 3-pointer with 5:48 left in the third, then watched George close out the quarter by scoring 14 of the Pacers' last 19 points.
Toronto never challenged again after the Pacers opened the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to make it 88-77.
With four games left and already down tiebreakers to Chicago, which started the night in the No. 7 spot, and Miami, which was tied with Indiana for the last playoff spot, Indiana knew what it needed to do: Win.
George took that responsibility upon himself after a conversation with coach Nate McMillan, and he delivered with a huge third quarter that turned around the game and perhaps Indiana's season.
The Pacers were 9 of 13 on 3-pointers in the second half.
