Wade, Heat beat Raptors in OT after Lowry’s halfcourt heave
Game 2 will be Thursday night.
TORONTO — Goran Dragic scored 26 points, Dwyane Wade had seven of his 24 in overtime after Kyle Lowry’s halfcourt shot tied it at the buzzer, and the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 102-96 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Joe Johnson scored 16 points and Josh Richardson had 11. Hassan Whiteside had 17 rebounds for the Heat.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Toronto.
Lowry’s improbable 3pointer from his own side of the halfcourt line capped Toronto’s sixpoint comeback in the final 20 seconds of regulation, but the Raptors couldn’t deliver in the extra session. Toronto went scoreless for the first 3:46 of overtime before DeMar DeRozan hit a jumper.
Dunks by DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas made it 99-96 with just over 10 seconds to play. Toronto got the ball back after a Miami turnover on the inbounds play, but Wade stripped the ball from DeRozan and sealed it with a three-point play.
Wade (3,638) moved into 16th place on the NBA’s playoff scoring list, passing Elgin Baylor (3,623). Scottie Pippen (3,642) is in 15th place.
Valanciunas had 24 points and 14 rebounds, and DeRozan added 22 points for the Raptors, who dropped to 1-9 in the opening game of a postseason series. Five of those defeats have come at home.
DeRozan connected on his first three field goal attempts of the game, then made only six of 19 the rest of the way.
Lowry also struggled, going scoreless in the first half and finishing 3 of 13 for seven points.
Toronto’s Terrence Ross set a career playoff high with 19 points and Cory Joseph had 10.