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The Raptors posted a huge second-half comeback to snap Miami Heat's five-game winning streak, and clinch an impressive 106-104 road victory.
Coming into this one, Toronto had just undergone a beating at the hands of Philadelphia, on the second night of a back-to-back. On the other hand, the Heat had just beaten the Grizzlies, Pelicans, Rockets, Heat and Magic(in chronological order) in one of their best runs this season.
The Raptors' latest impressive comeback victory has catapulted their win-loss record to an unmatched 26-10(0.722) on the season. They are now 13-6 in away games, possessing the best record when playing on foreign soil. The win might put a hold to the rough patch they were going through as of late, having just won five of their last ten games.
On the other hand, the Miami Heat's neoteric gush of wins have been jolted by this last-minute heartbreaker. They are tied for 7th place with the Hornets on the Eastern Conference standings, hosting a 16-17 record. D-Wade and company have now lost just three of their last ten games.
Let's draw out some key takeaways from this nail-biting show of resiliency by the league leaders in Toronto.
#1 The Raptors' second-half surge proved to be lethal for Miami
Toronto were down by 14 points at the half, and as the third period progressed, Miami increased the separation to 17 at one point. The Raptors switched to zone defense, VanVleet and Kawhi combined for 21 points and what we saw was a 37-21 rout of the Heat in the third quarter.
The visitors held a dicy 81-79 lead into the fourth and last quarter. With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, Ibaka found a wide-open Danny Green for a corner three to make it 106-104. And that was pretty much it!
Both the teams scored 25 points in the final period, resulting in Miami losing by a sliver of a margin to the headstrong Raptors.
Coach Spoelstra was impressed by his team's effort, but the frustration of losing out in the final moments was visible,
"There's some really good things going on," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "And it was a great basketball game ... through 47 minutes."
#2 Kawhi Leonard had himself a classic night, outlined by a game-high score
For the previous game, Nick Nurse sat Kawhi Leonard down on the second night of a back-to-back, as is the norm, and a result of which the Sixers handed his team a brutal beating. He was back in the starting lineup against Heat and finished with a game-high 30 points and 8 rebounds in the 35 minutes he was on the court.
He looked sharp and shot the ball at a decent 9-of-20 from the floor, attempting 11 free-throws on the night and missing just one.
The Raptors were without point guard Kyle Lowry (back pain) but the Claw's heroics saw his team through in a game they woke up late. He has scored at least 28 points in the last four games he has played and is averaging 1.8 steals per game this season.
#3 According to statistics, the Miami Heat had a stronger case for a win.
Although the Heat underwent a quality lapse in the second half, they registered solid numbers in almost all columns of the basketball chart. The team shot above 50%(43-of-83) from the floor and recorded 28 assists(9 more than their opponents). They effected 10 steals and 6 blocks, making the Raptors commit 16 turnovers throughout the course of the game.
Also, they outscored the Raptors 56-40 in the paint with Hassan Whiteside finishing with a double-double of 16 points and 12 boards.
The exclamation point to Miami's bad run occurred when Wade failed to cover Danny Green properly in the final seconds, leading to a wide-open go-ahead three-pointer.
"I'm not mad at the loss. I'm mad at the way I played," Wade said. "You're going to lose games in this league. That's fine. We've been playing good basketball and we played some good basketball today. ... Losses are going to happen. It's the way you bounce back from them and the last few times we've had losses we've bounced back pretty well."
He finished with 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor, one of the six Heat players to finish in double-digits.
