Raptors host Pacers, look to change season narrative

The Toronto Raptors keep coming close but falling short, and they will aim to change that Monday night against the visiting Indiana Pacers.A victory would end a losing streak that grew to seven games when the Raptors lost 126-123 in overtime on Saturday night to the host Boston Celtics on a last-second 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum.The Raptors will face former teammate Pascal Siakam, who was traded to the Pacers on Jan. 17. Siakam scored 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field Sunday when Indiana avoided a two-game sweep by the visiting Miami Heat with a 119-110 victory.Siakam, 30, surpassed 10,000 career points on Sunday.Injury-depleted Toronto lost for the 12th time this season on Saturday despite career performances by Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett.Barrett had his first career triple-double with 25 points on 10-for-27 shooting from the field, 15 assists and 10 rebounds.Poeltl scored a career-best 35 points on 16-for-19 shooting (84.2 percent) from the field and grabbed 12 rebounds for his team-leading seventh double-double of the season.”We know what we can do and we know who we are,” Barrett said. “Right now we’re just trying to figure out how to get over the hump. We’ve been in so many close games, one overtime, against some good teams, so now it’s just how to get the win, how to close out the game.”Toronto outscored Boston in the paint, 76-42.”I thought we played a heck of a game,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We played against the NBA champion on a back-to-back, came here and gave it our all. We played the right way, moved the ball. I’m really, really proud of the fight we had in this game. A little bit of luck at the end of the game and it could have been a different story.”Toronto is 1-7 in games decided by six or fewer points. They are a league-worst 2-12 overall.