Dwyane Wade Carries Heat With 30 Points In Crucial Game 4 Victory

The Miami Heat had a hard fought, comeback 94-87 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors Monday night at American Airlines Arena in Miami, evening the series 2-2.

Miami Evens East Semis 2-2 After 94-87 OT Victory Over Raptors

It didn’t look good as Miami was heading towards a 3-1 deficit in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series with Toronto.  Terrence Ross had just drained his second three pointer of the fourth quarter to give the Raptors a 77-68 lead with 6:39 left to play.  With both teams struggling to score points, it looked like the Heat had dug themselves into a pretty deep hole.  Ross finished with 14 points for the Raptors.

But then Dwyane Wade scored nine of the Heat’s final 15 points, including a layup through traffic to tie the game at 83 with 12 seconds remaining.

“It looked dark for a minute,” Wade said, “but there was no quit in us.”

Miami’s defense held the Raptors to just five points after Ross’ three and Toronto’s dynamic backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan continued to struggle, as they have for most of the series.  Lowry fouled out with just under two minutes left in regulation, finishing with 10 points on just 2-11 from the field (0-6 3pt).  DeRozan didn’t fare much better, finishing the game with just nine points and only had two rebounds and three assists.

While Wade only scored two points in OT, he was still the only player from either team to score more than 15 points.  Both Joe Johnson and Goran Dragic netted 15 for Miami.

“I was tired,” Wade said. “I was using myself as a decoy. All eyes were on me, and I wasn’t going to force anything.”

Wade has turned back the clock during the Semis, averaging 27.3 points after averaging 19 during the regular season.  He has also taken better shots, as evidenced by his 49 percent shooting, up from 46 in the regular season.  The most dramatic improvement has been his three point shooting.  Wade has made 60 percent of the threes he’s taken against the Raptors, after shooting an abysmal 16 percent for the season.

“I’m as confident as I’ve been all season right now,” Wade said.

This was the third time in the four games that overtime has been needed to decide the winner.  “That’s what you get when two teams are trying to make the conference finals,” Lowry said.  “We’re going at it.”

If the Raptors want to advance and face off with the Cleveland Cavalier in the Eastern Conference Finals, Lowry and DeRozan will need to play up to their All-Star levels.  Lowry is averaging 17 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.3 RPG while shooting 35 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep.  During the regular season, the nine year veteran averaged 21 PPG, 6.4 APG, 4.7 RPG, and shot 43 percent (39 percent 3pt).

DeRozan is averaging 17.5 PPG in the series, down from 23.5 during the regular season.  He is averaging 2.5 assists per contest, down from his average of 4 during the season, while his rebounding has improved from 4.5 to 5.8 in the series.  His shooting percentage is also down from 46 percent to 35 percent.

Game 5 of this tightly contested series will tip off at 8 PM EST tomorrow at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Both teams will be missing crucial parts of their offense.  Miami will be without center Hassan Whiteside (knee sprain), while Jonas Valanciunas has been ruled out for the rest of the series with an ankle injury.

Article by Nick Vigliotti