Miami Heats outshine Toronto Raptors 109-100, Dwyane Wade stars
Two nights after having a shocker against the Boston Celtics, Dwyane Wade left his demons behind as he let it rip against the Toronto Raptors scoring 31 points, shooting 11-for-16, to snap a two match losing streak for the Miami
Heats.
A night after toppling Orlando in its own backyard the Raptors chilled in front of the red hot Miami offense as six of the Heat players featured in double figures.
First half
The Heats announced their arrival with a seven point run and never looked back from there on. The heats were in a hurry opening a double digit lead three times in the quarter
only to be pegged back to single figures as the Raptors just held on.
The teams entered the second quarter with Miami leading at 34-25. The Heats continued to build on their momentum into the second quarter as the Raptor’s defense faltered.
Miami dominated the proceedings in the first half, continuously out maneuvering the Raptors in the paint.
Wade led the assault for Miami scoring 18 of his 31 points in the first half with LeBron James catching up fast on 14 points as the Heats led at half time by 13 points at
63-50.
Second Half
Miami eased their way going into the second half as well. Chris Bosh, playing his former franchise for the first time, used a reverse pivot to nail in a dunk spinning his
way past Amir Johnson and followed it with a free throw, roaring on his way back to place the Heats at an 18 point advantage, their biggest of the game.
Just like old days, Bosh’s uproar seemed to pump up the Raptors who ramped up their defense and opened a 16-3 run to come within striking distance at 76-71 with three minutes
left in the third quarter. Miami inched their lead ahead to 10 points though, as Toronto only shot 1 of the next five to go into the final quarter at 83-73.
The Raptors opened the fourth quarter with a 14-8 run to clip the lead to 91-87 with 6:25 left on the clock. The Heats suffering from a heart breaking loss four nights ago
against the Utah Jazz from a similar position, weren’t willing to allow another late run to ruin their party.
Where the Game changed
Just when the Raptors had started to turn the heat on Miami, LeBron James turned the tide in the Heats favor as he lobbed the ball to Udonis Haslem for an alley oop dunk
shot and then twisted past the Raptors defense to make a layup shot. Dwyane Wade joined the action as he dunked a handoff from LeBron, who made a running slam dunk shot to make it 101-89 with 3:44 to go.
With the game perfectly in their grasp, Miami turned the s***w as they held on to a 109-100 win.
Prominent Scorers
Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat as he responded brutally to the sloppy defense of the Raptors. LeBron James clearly evinced why he is the number one player in the league.
The two times reining MVP scored 23 points and 11 assists providing impetus to his team at crucial junctures of the match. James Jones netted 14 points; Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 12 while Udonis Haslem finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds scoring his second
straight double-double off the bench.
The big story before the match was Chris Bosh facing off against his old franchise, but it quickly subsided as he could play for only 21:37 minutes due to excessive fouling.
He scored 12 points, 6 rebounds and four assists.
Andrea Bargnani had 22 points and nine rebounds for Toronto while DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Jose Calderon and Sonny Weems had 15 apiece and Amir Johnson finished with
14 for the Raptors.
Quotable
"I'm glad we got it out of the way. I'm glad we got to play each other. I'm glad we won, most importantly." --
Heat forward Chris Bosh, on facing his former team for the first time.
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