Game 6: Miami Heat all set to put chill on Raptors’ plans to send them packing
RAPTORS VS. HEAT
MIAMI— Erik Spoelstra always talks about “competition” and how it drives his Miami Heat, how the veteran team thrives on the intensity and tightrope walking that goes hand-inhand with the NBA playoffs.
It’s now time to find out if it’s just words or if it’s action.
The Heat, as beaten up as the Toronto Raptors, face another postseason elimination game Friday night at the American Airlines Arena, down 3-2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.
It was the same situation they faced in the first round against Charlotte, winning Game 6 on the road to stay alive and crushing the Hornets in Game 7.
“It’s about getting ready for a big game, Game 6, at home,” Spoelstra said after the Raptors won Game 5 on Wednesday.
“Our guys love this type of competition.”
The Heat did get some good news — relatively speaking — when Luol Deng was listed as questionable for Friday’s game with a bruised left wrist.
Deng was injured in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game and had a precautionary MRI here Thursday afternoon that revealed no structural damage or fractures.
But if Deng is limited, it will cut substantially into their already-sputtering offence. He is the team’s best three-point shooter in the playoffs and his replacement — rookie Justise Winslow — is far from as big a scoring threat.
Winslow has been used sparingly; he didn’t play a minute in Game 3, but could be thrust into a substantial role Friday.
“Justise is a competitor — that’s the most important thing about it,” Spoelstra said on a conference call Thursday afternoon. “When you’re asked to do different things he doesn’t make excuses for it. He just embraces all the competition.”
The Heat players are steadfast in their belief that even if Deng can’t go or is limited — and Hassan Whiteside is listed as out as he tries to make a miraculous recovery from a strained knee ligament — they have enough to win.
It comes from the veteran presence of Dwyane Wade, the only consis- tently player in the series from either team, and Joe Johnson, who hasn’t had a tremendous impact.
Both have been through enough big games to know that it’s will more than Xs and Os that determines many playoff outcomes.
“If someone cannot be out there, you have to be able to plug them in and hopefully they help you,” Wade said Wednesday. “So it’s nothing you can do. A lot of things happen just by the game being physical. So it’s unfortunate, but we will continue to move on, get ready for Game 6 in Miami. Hopefully Luol is with us.
“If not, the next guy will have to step up.”