Raptors hang on to beat Heat in overtime, tie series at 1-1
Somehow, some way, the Toronto Raptors are tied at one game apiece in their Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Miami Heat.
With a narrow 96-92 overtime victory in Game 2 on Thursday night (the second consecutive overtime game of the series), the Raptors proved that they're capable of closing out games down the stretch, and more importantly, they were able to avoid falling into a two-game hole with a trip to Miami on deck.
Forget the fact that Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan shot a combined 16-for-46 (34.7%). And forget that Miami gave the Raptors a helping hand by collapsing in overtime. At the end of the day, Toronto held on in a game that Lowry described as a must-win. And it was.
After jumping out to a hot start and forcing 11 Heat turnovers in the first quarter, the Raptors resembled the team that earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference in the regular season. That would quickly change, as Miami outscored Toronto by nine in the third quarter, and the two teams exchanged leads up until the final buzzer.
Lowry briefly overcame his shooting struggles to hit two clutch jumpers with under a minute to go, but Miami's backcourt of Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade answered with two big shots of their own, and after a 48-minute rollercoaster ride in Toronto, an extra period was needed to decide the winner.
The Heat missed their first five shots in overtime and scored just six points to the Raptors' 10, and the rest, as they say, was history.
DeMarre Carroll led the way for Toronto, digging out of his postseason slump to score 21 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Right behind him was Jonas Valanciunas, who put up 15 points on seven-of-nine from the field and grabbed 12 rebounds.
To continue the narrative of uncharacteristically bad performances from Toronto's All-Star backcourt, Lowry scored 18 points, but was just 7-for-22 from the field and 1-for-7 from the three, while DeRozan scored 19, but shot just 9-for-24 and made just two of his eight free throw attempts.
After the game, DeRozan once again preached patience, noting that it's only a matter of time before the Raptors backcourt gets back to their normal selves.
"As long as we can come out with the W, it really don't matter how we're playing," DeRozan said. "But it's gonna come."
Goran Dragic led the way for Miami with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, followed by 17 points from Dwyane Wade and 13 points and 13 rebounds from Hassan Whiteside.
The two teams will meet for Game 3 on Saturday in Miami.
Follow AJ Neuharth-Keusch on Twitter @tweetAJNK