DeMar DeRozan had a game-high 38 points, as the Toronto Raptors beat the Miami Heat 112-104 in overtime on Saturday evening. It was their 15th win in their last 16 games at the Air Canada Centre.
The Raptors looked to have control of the game before the extra five minutes, but Luol Deng tied the game with a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left in regulation. DeRozan's would-be game-winner as time expired rimmed out.
Still, DeRozan carried Toronto in overtime, getting to the free-throw line 10 times, making seven, and finding Jonas Valanciunas for an easy dunk. DeRozan finished three assists shy of a triple-double.
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The Raptors (44-20) survived one of Kyle Lowry's worst nights of the season. The all-star point guard shot just 4-for-16 from the field.
Joe Johnson, who tormented the Raptors when he played for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2014 playoffs, appeared destined to best Toronto again. However, he went cold down the stretch, ultimately finishing with 28 points.
Valanciunas added 20 points, his 17th-consecutive game scoring in double digits.
At various points, the game was sloppy. Early in the fourth quarter, both teams could not help but turn the ball over, with the Raptors having trouble grabbing a simple offensive rebound.
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Toronto caught a break when the Heat (38-28) decided to rest star guard Dwyane Wade, who suffered a thigh bruise against Milwaukee on Wednesday. Wade played 31 minutes on Friday in Chicago, but shot just 3 for 15 from the field. Coach Erik Spoelstra did not want to risk playing him in a back-to-back scenario.
"When's the last time we played well when another (team's) star was out? It's been a while," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey, trying to work against any of his team's possible overconfidence. "They're still a very good team without him. They have a lot of talented guys. (Justise) Winslow can play a lot more. He's given us trouble defensively."
It was Winslow, a rookie, who started in Wade's place. The Raptors had trouble with the Heat, being pummelled by reserves Hassan Whiteside and Gerald Green on the bench in the first half. Spoelstra said that the Heat's goal was to keep Lowry and DeRozan off of the free-throw line, and they only took three free throws in the first half.
However, the Raptors' defence was stingy, holding Miami to 40 per cent shooting early on and carrying a seven-point lead to the break.