To the limit. Again.Seemingly fuelled by adversity this entire postseason, the Miami Heat upped the ante Friday night with a 103-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Having battled back from a 3-2 deficit in the first round against the Charlotte Hornets, the Heat will have the opportunity to do so again Sunday at 3:30pm EDT at Air Canada Centre.
No team in NBA history has overcome more than one 3-2 deficit in the same postseason.
The Heat seem to scoff at such challenges.
Just as they have by getting to this stage after losing forward Chris Bosh at midseason for the second consecutive year due to blood clots.
Just as they have by pushing to this point after losing centre Hassan Whiteside to a serious knee injury in the Game 3 loss that dropped them to a 2-1 deficit in this series.
At stake Sunday will be berth in the Eastern Conference finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, a series that opens for Sunday’s survivor starting Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
For the Heat, the itinerary to Cleveland goes through Toronto, with the team having to pack for six nights and three games, hoping to return with plenty of dirty laundry.
Friday’s victory was fuelled by 30 points from guard Goran Dragic, with Heat guard Dwyane Wade adding 22. A late 3-pointer from guard Joe Johnson helped the Heat put it away. Those performances were needed with Kyle Lowry scoring 36 for the Raptors and backcourt partner DeMar DeRozan 23.
The Heat have now won the last six times they have faced elimination at home, with the Raptors dropping to 1-5 all-time with the opportunity to close out a series on the road,
With his 14th point, Wade passed Hakeem Olajuwon for 12th place on the NBA’s all-time postseason scoring list.
With Whiteside again out, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra this time blew up his rotation, not only giving swingman Justise Winslow his first career playoff start, but by opening with him defensively at centre. The move came after Winslow had been benched for all of Game 3.
With Winslow opening defensively at centre, it allowed the Heat to keep Luol Deng, who played through the wrist issue that took him out of Wednesday’s Game 5, as the primary defender against DeRozan.
The Raptors, who again were without centre Jonas Valanciunas because of his ankle injury, stayed big with their first five, with Bismack Biyombo against starting at centre.
That had Biyombo and Deng contesting the opening jump.
Spoelstra further scrambled his rotation by playing Tyler Johnson as his first wing off the bench.
The Heat did not have a true power player on the court until Josh McRoberts entered with 2:39 to play in the first quarter. It turned into McRoberts’ most impressive performance of this postseason.
The Heat caught a break when Lowry was called for a rebounding foul with 6:56 to play, forcing him to the bench with his fifth foul. Wade then converted a jumper for a 92-82 lead.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey then quickly rushed Lowry back into the game, as the Heat’s lead remained in double digits.
The Heat went into the fourth quarter up 82-72, with Dragic already with 28 points to that stage.
Winslow was forced to the bench with his fourth foul with 5:57 to play in the third period, which in this game mattered a lot. He then reentered in the fourth quarter, again cast in a power role.
After the Raptors had trimmed their nine-point halftime deficit to four early in the fourth, Dragic then converted a 3-point play for a 71-60 Heat lead with 5:08 to play in the third, their largest lead to that stage in the entire series.
The Heat went into halftime up 53-44, with Dragic up to 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting to that stage, as well as four of the Heat’s 10 first-half assists. Wade added nine first-half points, with no other Heat player with more than five over the first two periods.
Dragic’s 19 points were the most he has ever scored in the first half of a playoff game. He once scored 26 points in the second half of a playoff game with the Phoenix Suns in the 2010 playoffs.
DeRozan had 15 points for the Raptors at halftime, including nine in the second period. DeRozan shot 5 of 5 from the line in the first half, with the rest of the Raptors 3 of 9 to that stage.
Both teams struggled early, with the Heat 3 of 7 on 3-point attempts in the first period and 4 of 14 on all other shots, as they took a 21-20 lead into the second period. Still, it was a cleaner than usual period for the Heat, with only one turnover in the quarter, by Dragic.
Just as Deng returned from his wrist injury, so did Raptors starting small forward DeMarre Carroll. Carroll, though, was limited in his early action after he was called for a pair of first-quarter fouls.