Dramatic half-court shot in vain
Kyle Lowry was having terrible shooting night until he tied it in regulation
All the drama, all the excitement, all the out-of-nowhere craziness that sports can provide was there.
And all was for naught for the Toronto Raptors.
After one of the most unlikely seconds of play imaginable, the Raptors couldn’t close the deal Tuesday night, dropping the first game of their Eastern Conference semifinal 102-96 to the Miami Heat in overtime at an Air Canada Centre that went from despair to jubilation and back to despair in a 10-minute stretch that was almost incomprehensible.
With the Raptors out of timeouts and 3.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Miami’s Hassan Whiteside could only split free throws, giving the Heat a three-point lead.
Lowry, who had missed five threepointers he had attempted and was just 2-for-11 from the field, almost lost the inbounds pass, took about four dribbles and drained a shot from just over halfcourt that beat the buzzer by a fraction of a second.
But it was unsustainable as the Heat scored eight unanswered points in the first 3:40 of the overtime period.
Goran Dragic, Lowry’s former teammate with the Houston Rockets, easily won the matchup between the two point guards, shredding the Raptors for 26 points as Toronto lost the opening game of a playoff series for the ninth time in 10 attempts and fifth straight at home.
Game 2 is at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday.
DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas were the only Raptors to produce consistently offensively as DeRozan had 22 points and Valanciunas 24 points and 14 boards.
The Raptors went with another new starting lineup – Norm Powell instead of Patrick Patterson along with Lowry, DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll and Valanciunas to get matchups they felt more amenable because it allowed Powell to guard Dwyane Wade, Carroll had Joe Johnson with DeRozan on Luol Deng.
It had not significant impact offensively, though, as Powell was bottled up and not left free for corner threes and Patterson was ineffective back with the second unit.
Powell and Patterson each had two points, Bismack Biyombo was scoreless and Cory Joseph was held to 10. Terrence Ross had 19 for the Raptors
Wade had 24 for the Heat while Joe Johnson had 16.
Toronto’s Bismack Biyombo was playing after the league determined there would be no supplemental discipline after retroactively assessing him a Flagrant 2 foul in Sunday’s Game 7 against Indiana.
Biyombo would have been ejected with more than 11 minutes to go in that game had the foul been called immediately and not after the league did its routine review. The play would also have been subjected to a longer look that may have resulted in a harsher penalty.
“The league has to do it,” Casey said before Tuesday’s game. “You miss quite a few calls, we’ve sent some in that weren’t called; that’s the protocol now.
“I think it’s good, they’re great teaching points for the next game so I thought it was handled properly.”
Biyombo wasn’t called for even a common foul on the play.
“He got tied up on a play with (Myles) Turner, his arm went back and there was contact with the head,” Casey said.
“There was no intentions by Biz to haul off and hit somebody but they got tied up and his forearm hit upside his head.”
Biyombo didn’t have a chance to do much early in Game 1, saddled with two quick fouls and limited to five minutes in a rebound-free first half appearance.
And with him out, the Heat dominated the glass and their eight offensive rebounds leading to seven second-chance points kept them in the game despite shooting just 38 per cent from the floor.
They also had 18 points in the paint, which was a concern of Casey’s going into the game.
“Every possession in a playoff game is very important, far more than they are in the regular season, but I think the paint points will be something that will determine how well we’re playing defensively,” Casey said.