“Now I’m going to be able to sleep good tonight,”
– DeMar DeRozan, post-game
Five years it took for DeMar to finally beat the Heat, so it’s no wonder a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. The last time he saw the Raptors take down Miami was when he was a rookie. It’s a shame there was never a win recorded against the ‘big three’, but the fact that the Raptors are heading into the playoffs knowing that they can beat Miami is comfort on it’s own. Slim chance, but if the Raptors finish 2nd in the East and Miami somehow jumps up to 7th, the Raptors will go into that series with the ice already broken.
Slim chance indeed though. The Heat are currently 9th, while the two teams above them – Indiana and Charlotte – are on a tear and among the hottest teams in the conference.
Last night’s victory had implications far greater than the win / loss column. Dwane Casey had limited time in the regular season to get this team back to playing basketball the right way. Better to achieve that during losses than racking up empty wins. Last night, it was the best of both worlds as the Raptors finally started looking like the team that catapaulted itself to first in the East before Christmas.
Two things.
Ball movement and defense
“The ball moved extremely well,” said Lowry.
The Raptors racked up 26 assists last night – nearly six more than their season average. 26 assists in one night is pretty dope for any team. League-leaders Golden State average 27 apg, while the Hawks are just behind them at 25.6. The Raptors’ two most prolific scorers – DeRozan and Lowry – combined for 14 of those assists. When those two start sharing the ball, it’s contagious and the rest falls into place. Confidence ensues.
Confidence leads to many things, one being improved defense. The Raptors did a solid job defending the perimeter, causing the Heat to miss their first nine shots from deep, and 18 of their 23 overall.
On the flipside, Miami struggled on both ends of the floor. For all of the good that Hassan Whiteside does (12 rebounds, 3 blocks), his individual defense is cringe-worthy at times. At one point during the third, Lou Williams penetrated from the perimeter and then casually skipped past Whiteside for a lay-up… That he missed. That he missed the lay-up is irrelevant though, it was a play that summarized the Heat’s performance pretty well. There were some moments of brilliance individually, but the Heat struggled greatly as a whole.
The Raptors had (statisitcally) postitive contributions from everyone apart from James Johnson (+/- -4) and Greivis Vasquez (+/- -16). Pairing most of Johnson’s minutes with Vasquez was probably the biggest factor in JJ’s +/- rating. Johnson played just 12 minutes, but still managed to get us out of our seats.
Two things I probably enjoyed more than I should have..
1) Vintage Dwyane Wade schooling DeRozan when the game was already over. With 1:15 remaining, Wade got DeMar to bite on a pump fake, then banked it off the glass for an AND-1. Don’t hate me, I’m just a sucker for savvy veteran moves like that.
2) Charles Oakley’s response when asked whether he thought he’d ever have his own bobblehead: “Well, I have a head, so you never know what could happen.”
Next up: Vs Blazers on Sunday
