Ep. 18: Pacers-Raptors Preview with Michael Grange

Ahead of the Indiana Pacers’ first-round playoff series, Michael Grange of Rogers SportsNet joins Scott Agness on the Vigilant Sports Pacers Podcast to offer insight from the Toronto perspective. The Pacers are in the playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons, this year as the No. 7 seed. The Raptors, winners of 56 games, are having the best season in its franchise’s 21-year history. But they have only won one playoff series. [Click here to read Grange’s stories on SportsNet.] An interesting nugget about the teams’ benches: Pacers head coach Frank Vogel, the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in April, is the fourth-longest tenured head coach in the NBA having been with the Pacers for six seasons. Raptors coach Dwane Casey, in his fifth season, is No. 5. The best-of-seven series begins at 12:30 pm ET on Saturday, April 16th at the Air Canada Centre and then it will move to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. See Also: 2016 NBA Playoffs: Pacers-Raptors Round 1 dates set Subscribe to the Pacers Podcast on iTunes. (And, if you like the podcast, please fill out a review.) I welcome your questions and comments @ScottAgness on Twitter or via email. Topics Discussed: * Fan support in Toronto * How the Raptors get to the foul line better than every team but Minnesota (27 FTA/game) * The outstanding job fifth-year head coach Dwane Casey has done * Why Kyle Lowry may have had a better season than LeBron James * The emergence of rookie Norman Powell * Ex-Pacer Luis Scola’s impact on the Raptors