The Toronto Raptors’ second-round playoff series with the Miami Heat is now a Best of 5 after the home team picked up an overtime victory on Thursday, sending the series to South Beach all tied at one.
Like Tuesday’s opener, Game 2 went to overtime as well, with the Raptors rallying from down as many as seven midway through the fourth quarter to hold a three-point lead with 15 seconds to play before Goran Dragic connected on an open three to even the score. But unlike Game 1, Toronto opened the scoring in the extra frame, jumping ahead by six and holding on to win by four, 96-92.
DeMarre Carroll led the way for the Raptors with 21, but Jonas Valanciunas was the star of the game for Toronto, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds, collecting 11 points and seven boards in the fourth and overtime when he simply refused to let this team fall into an 0-2 hole. DeMar DeRozan had 20, Kyle Lowry had 18 and Terrence Ross chipped in with 10 off the bench, while Dragic paced the Heat with 20.
This game – and the way the Raptors got it done – were a perfect encapsulation of their playoff performance thus far. They were up 10 after the first, but couldn’t hold the lead as Lowry followed a strong first quarter with more shaky shooting and DeRozan’s penchant for contested long twos allowed Miami to carry a lead into the fourth quarter. And the one that got them back into it and seemed to be willing the team to win was the guy they never seem to look to on the offensive end, Valanciunas, who battled down low and was a defensive presence all game.
While stories are going to be written about Lowry “finding his touch” and “having his swagger back,” the All-Star point guard was still just 7-for-22 from the field and 1-for-7 from deep and though he hit a couple clutch shots down the stretch in the fourth, he’s yet to put together a complete performance in the playoffs. DeRozan wasn’t any better either, collecting his 20 points on 9-for-22 shooting and continuing to take far too many tough jumpers.
Much like the entire series with Indiana and the opener of this set, there are underlying silver linings for the Raptors that provide reasons to be optimistic.
Toronto shot 14-for-26 from the foul line on Thursday, with DeRozan going an uncharacteristic 2-for-8 from the stripe, and seemed to realize late that going to Valanciunas a little more frequently isn’t a bad idea. If they clean things up from the line and get a few more good looks for JV instead of tough jumpers from DDR, these tight games might not be so tight down the stretch. And if Lowry actually has gotten his groove back, Toronto could return home with a chance to close things out next Saturday because as rough as the Raptors have been playing, Miami seems to be getting the most they can out of their starters and very little production from the bench.
This team isn’t playing close to their full capabilities and yet they’re in the second round of the playoffs, heading to Miami needing three wins in the next five games to reach the Conference Finals and that’s not a bad position to be in for a team that has yet to hit find their rhythm.
