Kyle Lowry’s return has been long in coming, but it arrived this afternoon in Miami. The Raptors rode his brilliance to a critical road victory.
The Toronto Raptors were tested severely, and survived. They waltzed into enemy country and sneaked out with a four-point win, barely enough to fend off the ageless Dwyane Wade’s 38 points. Despite the departure of Jonas Valanciunas due to a turned ankle, and a bunch of clanked shots from DeMar DeRozan, the return to form of Kyle Lowry propelled the Raptors into the series lead.
The Raptors looked like this win was in the bag early. JV had a double-double, but landed awkwardly after contesting a Dwyane Wade drive, and was helped to the bench. After that, the tension rose, as a 13-point lead disappeared.
First Half
As in Game 2, the Raptors were the better team in Q1. With JV and DeMar splitting 16 points, Toronto’s offense was respectable, and their defense better than that.
The Raptors caught the break they were looking for early in Q2. Hassan Whiteside was crunched on his leg, apparently by Dwyane Wade, during a messy rebounding scrum, and limped to the bench. He needed help to reach the dressing room, and shortly thereafter the announcement came that he wouldn’t return.
As always, we should never forget to be careful what we wish for. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra dusted off Josh McRoberts, who made a perfectly timed block on JV at the rim. The Raptors, perhaps showing once again they can’t stand prosperity, messed up their offense on their next few trips and the Heat briefly took a lead.
However, JV is bigger, better and stronger than Josh McBob. Our centre converted an and-1 chance off a dandy feed from Lowry, and the Raptors were ahead to stay. Patrick Patterson drained a pair of long balls. The lead was eight at halftime.
Second Half
Kyle Lowry showed early the second half was going to be his return to form. Two quick 3-balls pushed the Raptor lead to 13, but then JV went down and out. After a pair of Wade long balls, Lowry showed he remembered how to shoot from the free-throw line as well.
The game was back and forth, which was fine with us, until it wasn’t. The Raptors offense endured one of its too-frequent periods of vapour lock. Our guys went almost 6 minutes frozen at 68, while the Heat said “Thank You” and turned a 7-point deficit into a 6-point lead. Patrick Patterson drove for a most welcome and-1, and the Raptors chipped away until a deep 3-ball from Lowry went splash for a Raptors lead. Miami tied up the match at 82, and then 5 straight points from Lowry brought cheers from north of the border, and gloom south.
DeRozan made 5 of 6 from the line in the last 24 seconds, and even a Wade 3-ball off glass (c’mon Dwyane…you should have to call those, like in snooker) wasn’t enough. Cory Joseph heaved the ball deep to DeMarre Carroll, and a futile Heat foul meant the Raptors and their fans had to wait a little longer to exhale.
In Sum…
If Kyle Lowry truly is back to form (33 points on 19 shots certainly works for me, as does 5 of 8 from deep), the Raptors are a dangerous team. DeRozan’s stroke is still somewhere out there, waiting to be rediscovered, but he contributed 6 rebounds and 5 assists, in addition to his 19 points. He also had an and-1 chance wiped out by an imaginary offensive foul.
Terrence Ross committed 4 turnovers, which outweighed some positive things he did, and needed to sit.
Bismack Biyombo did not play the minutes I expected he would after JV went down. Coach Dwane Casey elected to go super-small in crunch time. It worked; the game was tied after Q3, but there was no overtime this night.
The next game in this nail-biter of a series tips off on Monday night – but who will be tipping off for each team?