Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry made an improbable shot from beyond half court at the buzzer to send Game 1 into overtime Tuesday.
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A Toronto Raptors’ buzzer-beater forced overtime, but the Miami Heat held on for a thrilling 102-96 win over the Raptors Tuesday.
Game 2 takes place at 6 p.m. Thursday in Toronto. DeRozan finished with 22 points and six rebounds, while fellow backcourt mate Lowry struggled heavily. While Indiana had the eighth best defense in the National Basketball Association this season, Miami was fifth – and also one of the best at defending the three-point line.
“It’s something we face every single day and something that we’re OK with because at the end of the day it’s us in the locker-room versus the world”, Patterson said.
Miami knew that they were fortunate to still come up with the victory after almost giving the game away a couple of times. Hassan Whiteside, who really broke out this season as a star defensive player, averaged 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game this season. Toronto got the ball back after a Miami turnover on the inbounds play, but Wade stripped the ball from DeRozan and sealed it with a three-point play.
The 19,800 fans who watched the Raptors drop Game 1 to the Miami Heat were already gone.
“We were conscious of how the last overtime went”, DeRozan said.
In the previous three instances after losing Game 1 at home, the Raptors went 2-1 SU and 1-1-1 ATS in the following Game 2, per the OddsShark NBA Database. “It was being out there and having time to reflect on things and think about the game that I grew up as a kid… and the game I love”.
But two Miami turnovers and a loose ball foul allowed Toronto to come back in the dying seconds. But he struggled for most of the contest, going scoreless in the first half and finishing three of 13 en route to a playoff-low seven points in 42:35 minutes.
Goran Dragic topped Miami with 20 points, while Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson had 17 points each in the loss. Lowry, who previously had shot 15 percent in the postseason from 3-point range, almost lost the ball out of bounds, but he recovered it, gathered himself, and produced that miracle.
I’ll take the points again but the Heat should win this game as well.
“I had a good look and said, ‘No way, it’s not about to happen, ‘” Wade said.
Back-up point guard Cory Joseph is averaging a playoff career-high 10.6 points. For a few brief minutes, Lowry had the Shot.
Once in overtime, though, the Raptors weren’t looking for a replica of Game 1.
With a work ethic evident through practice after an intense playoff game, it is only a matter of time before Kyle finds his stroke and contributes to the Raptors’ success in the postseason.
Stephen Curry, Lowry, Blake Griffin and DeRozan are the only premier scorers on that list. We go out of one series with me not shooting well.
Lowry said he can take some confidence in the fact the Raptors won the in series without much of a scoring contribution from him.
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The series moves to Miami for Game 3 on Saturday.
