LeBron James powers Miami Heat to 96 – 72 win over the Toronto Raptors – NBA Recap
The Miami Heat notched up yet another victory, this time against the Toronto Raptors at the American Airlines Arena. The Heat were favourites going into the game on Wednesday and used a strong second half display to secure the 96 – 72 win over Toronto.
In the absence of star players Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, two-time NBA MVP LeBron James stepped up to carry Miami to the win. LeBron had a game high 28 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
"It's just how I am," said James, "When I go on the floor, if I'm in uniform, I'm trying to play at the highest level. If I'm in uniform, I don't try to take minutes off or take games off when I can. ... I just want to be the best."
Udonis Haslem had 10 points while Mike Miller came off the bench for 13.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey lavished praise on the Heat after the game, saying his side were beaten by a better outfit.
"They have the star power to do it. My hat's off to Miami. They're a great team. I'm going to enjoy watching them. I hope my guys were watching and learning and that they learned from tonight and how fast and how physical the game is for 48 minutes. Not
24 minutes - 48 minutes."
James Johnson scored the team high 18 points for Toronto, Alan Anderson had 15 while DeMar DeRozan scored 12.
Both sides matched up well early on in what was a physical game. The score was 10 – 10 with 7:02 on the clock. Raptors actually went ahead, 17 – 12, but the Heat came back late and ended the first quarter 25 – 24.
The second segment was played in a similar fashion and neither side could get a significant advantage over the other. At halftime, the game was finely poised 51 – 49 to the Heat.
All that changed after the interval. Miami came out all guns blazing and really started to hurt the Raptors. They managed to score 23 points, but the real damage was done on defence as they completely shut down Toronto, allowing only 11 in the third segment.
The final 12 minutes were no different, with the Raptors offence failing to cope with a physical, suffocating Miami defence that held them to just 12 points. Miami scored 22 themselves to garner the 96 -72 win.
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