Toronto Raptors swingman Norman Powell had already done more than what's been expected of a rookie picked in the second round of last June's draft even before Sunday's Game 7 began.

He had provided rugged defence on Paul George, the Indiana Pacers star swingman. He had made plays in transition. He had played the passing lanes well, causing turnovers.

However, he had not drilled three-pointers. The Raptors had struggled from deep and so had Powell, who missed all eight of his attempts in Games 5 and 6.

"I called Jama (Mahlalela, a Raptors assistant coach) and told him the day before Game 7 that I was getting in the gym early, getting up extra shots to make sure I was locked in, feeling good," Powell said after the Raptors' 89-84 win to clinch the series and move onto the second round.

"After practice my shot felt really pure. My shot felt really great, smooth. I worked out the kinks. This game I told myself just to shoot it with confidence, shoot it the way I was shooting it in practice."

It worked.

Powell hit three of his four three-point attempts Sunday. Beyond that, it was just another example of a Raptors role player stepping up.

Sunday was another night that Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, despite the latter's 30 points, struggled to shoot efficiently. The pair combined to shoot 15-for-46 from the field. In the series, both stars shot below 32 per cent from the floor.

Somehow, the Raptors still won. The somehow was the guys in the margins.

"Myself and Cory (Joseph) come from teams with a tradition of depending on everyone," said DeMarre Carroll, who had just three points but spent nearly all of his 37 minutes on George.

"I felt like this series showed that everyone in this locker room was depended on and that's what we had to do. We had to come out as a team. DeMar DeRozan wasn't going to beat this team alone. Kyle Lowry wasn't going to beat this team on his own. It had to be a group effort."

The contributions came from all over the floor.

After struggling in his first two starts of the series, Patrick Patterson had 11 points in just 23 minutes, finishing with a game-high plus-11. Joseph was steady throughout the series, and finished with eight points and four assists. Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo combined for 26 rebounds, part of the Raptors' 49-38 overall rebounding advantage. Toronto had 18 offensive rebounds to the Pacers' five and, not coincidentally, 17 second-chance point to the Pacers' three.

"We just pushed ourselves and the team," Lowry said. "Everybody that played, (the) bench, every last man in that locker room, they put it on the line."

Of all of the secondary performances on the night, it will indeed be Powell's that stands out. There was a sequence early in the fourth quarter which had Powell drill a three-pointer and then strip the ball from George on Indiana's next trip down. Following the next offensive possession, the Raptors' lead had ballooned to 16 -- a game high. As it turned out, they needed every last contribution.

"That man has nothing but heart," DeRozan said.