 | P. Patterson 36 MIN | 3-4 FG | 2-3 3FG | 1-1 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | — +/- I thought he was fine defensively, and he hit a couple threes while making an effort to attack the rim in the fourth. He was a bit too quiet in the 2nd half, but that’s not really on him, and more a product of the way the Raptors were running their offense. |  |
 | D. Carroll 38 MIN | 2-9 FG | 1-3 3FG | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | — +/- Joe Johnson had his way with him early but then Carroll really clamped down defensively. He took some ill-advised shots but I liked his involvement offensively, particularly his ball movement in the fourth quarter.
|  |
 | J. Valanciunas 22 MIN | 7-12 FG | 0-0 3FG | 2-5 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 16 PTS | — +/- I speak for the entire Republic here – let’s pray and hope that Jonas returns for game three and recovers, because the injury that transpired was a shame. It was disastrous. Until then, Valanciunas was breaking out his best game of the post-season, dominating the paint and taking advantage of the extra touches the Raptors were feeding him. On top of that, he was monstrous on the glass and scoring put-backs at a prolific rate.
Defensively, Valanciunas protected the rim and disrupted drives to the basket. For everyone’s sake, he needs to return yesterday, because we can’t deal with another five minutes of Luis Scola. |  |
 | K. Lowry 41 MIN | 11-19 FG | 5-8 3FG | 6-6 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 33 PTS | — +/- His best post-season game to date. You could see traces of his confidence coming back in game 2, but tonight, he looked like the all-star version of Kyle Lowry. That performance was clutch as hell. What Lowry was doing in the fourth quarter was incredible. Kept Dragic reasonably in check and frustrated him too. This play, man. Looked Wade right in the eye.
| |
 | D. DeRozan 40 MIN | 6-17 FG | 0-0 3FG | 7-8 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 19 PTS | — +/- Watching DeRozan chuck right now is really ugly. Below you’ll see his shot chart, but that’s not nearly as bad as the aesthetic nightmare he put us through tonight.
|  |
 | L. Scola 5 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-2 3FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | — +/- To no fault of his own, really. He was cold, can’t expect much from him. The F comes for putting the Heat in the bonus single-handedly in his five minutes of action. |  |
 | T. Ross 19 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-1 3FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 5 PTS | — +/- Classic. Terrence. Ross. He had to ruin a solid offensive start by committing a couple awful turnovers (brainfarts). |  |
 | B. Biyombo 12 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | — +/- Biyombo got a lot of flack in game 2 for guarding Hassan Whiteside behind the arc as if he was Larry Bird, but tonight he stepped up as best he could in Jonas’ absence. He had to get out to guard Joe Johnson and Udonis Haslem on the perimeter on a couple of occassions and did really well. Worked really hard – no surprise. | |
 | C. Joseph 23 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-1 3FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | — +/- Closed out the game on both ends of the floor. Locked in. | |
 | N. Powell 4 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | — +/- Limited – but important – minutes. He contributed on the defensive end, and had a really great defensive sequence on Wade at the end of the game. |  |
 | Dwane Casey Kyle Lowry dug his coach out of a hole tonight. Casey’s decision to insert Scola in response to JV’s absense was suicidal. The decision to keep a five-minute leash on him was even worse. He should have just rode Biyombo / Patterson for every remaining minute – rest be damned, The Heat went on a huge run during that stretch. The good: huge emphasis on getting Jonas more touches on the offensive end, and his decision to start Patterson at the four and sliding Powell back to the bench was sound. | |
Two Things We Saw
- The Raptors played really good defense all-around tonight, and the help D in particularl was really good.
Dwayne Wade went off – but there’s only so much you can do about that. The Raptors did a really great job of stifling Dragic and Joe Johnson. Outside of Wade (4/6 from three), the Heat didn’t hit a single shot from behind the arc.
- So many twists.
Valanciunas dominated early, then when Whiteside left the game injured, JV feasted on Haslem and McRoberts. Then, when Valanciunas went down, it all seemed doom-and-gloom. The Heat went on an immediate 6-0 run and the Raptors looked rattled, unsure of how to respond.
Then, Kyle Lowry took over, and it was incredible. The Raptors look on another level of legitimacy when he plays at his best. Welcome back, Kyle!
