Toronto F DeMarre Carroll escaped injury in the second quarter when he dived into the front-row seats in an attempt to get a loose ball…. The Heat would surge back to take the lead late in the fourth, but a Kyle Lowry three would push the Raptors back ahead.
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“Those guys (Lowry and DeRozan), we have to continue to go with them”, Toronto coach Dwane Casey told reporters.
“I think Lowry dove or fell into my knee and pushed it in”, Whiteside said when asked how the injury occurred. He limped off the court in obvious pain, then went back toward the locker room where he was examined and ruled out for the rest of the game.
When we watch the Raptors Heat game live streaming or on TV today, Toronto has a little bit more confidence after being the team that won in overtime in Game 2.
– The early score was Valanciunas 6, Whiteside 4, and that was it for points for either team.
The Raptors were ready when the ball tipped on Saturday afternoon.
Whiteside’s primary opponent has been Toronto center Jonas Valanciunas, who had averaged 19.5 points and 13 rebounds in the first two games. But Wade went right around Patterson, staying with the Lowry the whole way.
But Kyle Lowry came back.
Johnson missed an open 3 on the next Miami possession, the Raptors went back to the line and the Heat crowd started filing to the exits.
For the third straight game, these two teams battled until the final buzzer.
“It makes it a lot easier”, DeRozan, who had 19 points on 17 shots along with six rebounds and five assists, said jokingly. Wade got a layup to get Miami within 1 point, but Toronto restored the 3-point edge when DeRozan made two foul shots with 23.9 left.
DeMar DeRozan was perturbed with himself after a bad free-throw shooting night in Game 2 of the series, when was 2-for-8 and had a couple blown chances that nearly blew the game for the Raptors. It was a brilliant performance amid scrutiny and plenty of attention after a tough shooting stretch in the postseason.
With big man Jonas Valanciunas on the bench with a sprained ankle, and a double-digit lead quickly disappearing, the all-star version of Lowry finally emerged after halftime Saturday.
Virtually ignored through three quarters, scoring four points on three shots, Valanciunas came alive with 11 points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Raptors avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this postseason.
“I’m not focused on that”, Wade said. “And that’s what we need for him to do”. I guess it’s a nice thing, even though it was still annoying to see them go back to it over the fans who ACTUALLY PAID FOR TICKETS JUST LIKE THE ANDERSONS. He scored 15 points, and Wade exploded for 18, and the game was tied entering the fourth.
Added Lowry: “I don’t doubt myself”. At the end of the day, I can live with everything that people say about me.
I thought the Heat could’ve used his playmaking ability. The 30-year-old points had missed 96 of his last 139 shots, had openly said it was messing with his head. “This is just a higher level, bigger scope of basketball, so just have fun and worry about the next thing and how you can help your team win”. “We’ve got to take it. We can harp on the negatives and beat that drum, beat it to death”.
The fact Dragic was still the Heat’s second-best scorer shows how easily this could have gotten out of hand for the team.
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“We are without one of the best players to ever play the game in Chris Bosh, and now we don’t know about Hassan, who is a big part of what we do”, Wade said. None of this was going to come out pretty.
