The Heat whittled the lead to eight points before DeRozan’s jumper and free throw restored the 13-point lead with 8:33 to play in the fourth quarter. The difference in DeRozan, he said, was that the shooting guard was “decisive” in his play. “But again you don’t forget how to score the basketball”. Whiteside sprained his right MCL during Game 3.
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This matchup is the ideal example of how injuries have come to dominate this series. “We have faith in those guys, they carried us the entire season”.
“There’s other things that they’ve contributed or we wouldn’t be standing here today, we’d be in Cancun somewhere”.
The Toronto Raptors defeated the Miami Heat, 99-91, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoff series on Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre.
Deng left Game 5 with an injured left wrist and X-rays were inconclusive. “When Bismack is out there just being himself, showing his charisma, that kind of gets us going”. The Raptors have kept the games mostly in the 90s, a pace which has seen them look comfortable at times. “So if he had an opportunity to get a shot, I’m sure he would try to make it, and he would have taken it with confidence and we would have had confidence in it, and vice versa for me”. “It wasn’t our best stuff, but we got it done”. “I’m going to push through it. You can’t let frustration get to you at all”.
The Heat won the last game between the two teams, with Dwyane Wade rallying Miami from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the series at two games each.
Yet Toronto is struggling to win with their 35% shooting from the field and Lowry 25% on three-pointers. He signed with the Heat in July of 2014 after LeBron James left Miami to return to the Cavaliers.
DeRozan was asked about his thumb injury and commented “It just felt like a blowtorch on my hand, that’s all. I know he’s what you want out of a professional and he’s very respectful”, said Spoelstra.
“I’m as confident as I’ve been all season now”, Wade said.
Toronto has to play well tonight, they’re favored and will look to take advantage of Amare Stoudemire having to start at center for Miami. Those guys are good players. (But) that wasn’t what beat us. Just a slow start for us. Kyle Lowry leads in assists with 6.9 and in steals with 1.8 per game. The Heat shot 27 percent from the field in the period, and Toronto shot 40 percent. Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll also suffered a wrist injury in the third quarter of Game 5.
They scored, DeRozan kicked the ball into Goran Dragic’s face, missed a pull-up jumper, and grabbed an offensive rebound tapped back by Patterson.
As soon as the playoffs began, Toronto’s backcourt duo had been inconsistent and experienced shooting woes which sometimes led to losses.
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DeRozan appeared to re-injure the thumb in the fourth quarter and actually headed back to the locker room.
