Raptors climb up off the mat
Raptors 107 Heat 94 Outwork Heat for well-deserved first win of year Mitchell: ‘I’m happy for those guys in there’
The skeptics had a field day when Sam Mitchell would make his near-daily proclamation that the Raptors were working hard and getting better and starting to clue in and would surely, one day soon, be rewarded with a victory. Eyebrows would be raised when various players would stand in front of the media and contend that, yes, they could see the light at the end of the losing streak, and, yes, things improving almost daily and, yes, they would one day soon put a full game together and not have to answer questions about what went wrong.
Well, the skeptics can be silenced for one day at least, the raised eyebrows are replaced by wide- eyed wonderment as the Raptors, losers of nine straight games, finally proved themselves right.
Polishing off the Miami Heat with an efficient 40- point fourth quarter, getting clutch baskets off well- run sets at one end and defensive stops with intelligent play at the other, the Raptors finally won a game, rewarding themselves and 17,594 Air Canada Centre patrons with a 107- 94 victory yesterday that sends them off on a troublesome road trip feeling much happier about their place in the basketball universe than they have at any other time this season. “Everyone likes each other again,” said guard Mike James, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the final quarter as the Raptors rallied from six down with less than six minutes to go. As well they should.
James, Chris Bosh, Charlie Villanueva, Jalen Rose and Jose Calderon sparked an 18- 2, game- turning run in the final six minutes, a stretch that stood in stark contrast to what they had done in the nine previous games.
Villanueva took the ball hard to the basket, Rose and James forced Miami star Dwyane Wade to shoot contested shots, Bosh didn’t allow the Heat any clear paths to the basket and Calderon dished out four of his game-high nine assists in the quarter.
“I feel good, I’m happy for those guys in there,” said Mitchell gesturing to the jubilant Raptor locker room. “ I get mine after the game but during the game, those guys have to go out there and be the focal point and hear the cheers and hear the boos and I’m proud of them and happy for those guys.”
It was, without question, the most complete game the team has played in the 10 this season. Despite the obligatory bad start — Toronto shot just 16 per cent in the first quarter and trailed 24- 13 — they played with passion and intelligence and made shots when necessary in the fourth quarter.
“ That just shows if we play well from the start and play that way the whole game, we can win,” said Bosh, who had his seventh double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds. “Down the stretch we didn’t give up layups and we rebounded all their misses.”
Rose, who had 11 free throws as part of a 22- point game, hit a clutch three- pointer in the game-deciding fourth-quarter run and Villanueva had six of his eight points in a two-minute stretch when Toronto rallied from an 86- 80 deficit.
“ We just got it done,” said Rose. “It wasn’t about stats and it wasn’t about stopping Wade — because we didn’t. It was just about getting it done and we did.’’ Among the shocking stats on the day, the notoriously- bad rebounding Raptors held a 47- 39 advantage on the boards over the Heat, who were missing Shaquille O’Neal. Rafael Araujo, as maligned as any Toronto player ever, had six boards in his 20 minutes, just one fewer than Miami’s Alonzo Mourning did in his 35.
“ To out- rebound a team like this, that’s an accomplishment,” said Mitchell. To be out- rebounded by a team like Toronto didn’t sit well with Miami coach Stan Van Gundy.
“ To get out- rebounded the way we did, again? I am a little, no, a lot upset with our rebounding,” he said. “ It’s showing a total lack of toughness.”