All-star Miami guard Dwyane Wade overcame a shoulder injury to start Friday against the Toronto Raptors but the Heat were still hurting.
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The setback marked the third in a row and the sixth in seven games for the Heat, who are averaging 80 points in the last three contests.
DeRozan, looking to join teammate Kyle Lowry at next month’s all-star game in Toronto, came out on fire and had 22 points, five rebounds and four assists in the first half. “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, we just have to find it”.
“I think you see what the Raptors are doing, the Hawks are doing, trying to elevate their game, getting to 10 games above.500″, Bosh said. The Heat are going to have nine, maybe as few as seven, healthy players, barring a last-minute injury exception, and most of those players are young and unproven or old and past their prime. There were five lead changes and six ties in the quarter before Valanciunas gave Toronto a five-point lead on a cutting layup with 1:24 left in the third. It was the third straight game that DeRozan scored 30 or more points and the second time in his career that he has accomplished that.
DeRozan had 22 first-half points. The latest was a 108-94 Toronto win in Miami on December 18. They drove the minor runs Miami had in the second quarter and in the fourth, when as coach Dwane Casey said afterwards the Raptors were “running in mud”. Meanwhile, we had no answer for Valanciunas down low – he went 9-9 in the game, and pulled down 12 boards.
“When you have a guy who plays that hard and with that kind of passion, who mixes it up with the 7-footers inside and just instills his will on the game, that passion is contagious”. The Raptors then closed it out on a pair of free-throws from Lowry.
“He’s playing extremely well right now he’s playing at a really high level and he’s about to hit his prime right now”, point guard Kyle Lowry said. A ton of Heat players are questionable or out. “We’re maintaining our principles and we’re maintaining our composure”. The other Miami players missing in action are Chris Andersen (knee), Luol Deng (eye), Goran Dragic (calf), Josh McRoberts (knee) and Hassan Whiteside (oblique). He said the shoulder seems to be inflamed.
Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) tries to keep the ball from Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley (0) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Toronto on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.
These two squads are looking to make appearances in the playoffs later on in the campaign and at the moment, they are absolutely in the race to achieve this feat.
On Wednesday night, the Celtics missed four of their final six shots and turned the ball over twice in the final three minutes.
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The Celtics have acquired several pieces to their team over the past years ever since dismantling their 2008 championship team.
