Quick Reaction: Raptors 91, Heat 103 – Series Tied 3-3

ACC gets to host yet another game 7.


Toronto91Final
Recap | Box Score		103Miami
P. Patterson 33 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-2 3FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | -8 +/-

I can’t be harsh on Patterson despite being relatively quiet offensively. Joe Johnson hit a few really, really tough shots in Pat’s face, and I thought his defense was really good overall.

He should have just been the de facto back-up 5 in every possible scenario. I mean, his performance closing out this game was incredible – put backs, blocks, offensive boards, he was a monster.

D. Carroll 25 MIN | 2-4 FG | 1-3 3FG | 0-2 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | -2 +/-

He was held in check, and he was frustrated. Though I thought he was the best Raptors’ defender tonight, if that means anything at all.

B. Biyombo 33 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 3FG | 2-4 FT | 13 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | -7 +/-

Excellent as always when switched on to a smaller player away from the basket and he protected the rim admirably.

I couldn’t believe he got his left hand on this one.

Also, this Magic-esque pass came out of nowhere.

K. Lowry 37 MIN | 12-27 FG | 3-5 3FG | 9-10 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 36 PTS | -5 +/-

I’ve given him an A+ in this series before, and I thought this was his best overall game of the series. His shooting was better, and he single-handedly kept the team in the game in the third quarter. It’s a shame this performance went to waste.

D. DeRozan 43 MIN | 8-21 FG | 0-1 3FG | 7-7 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 23 PTS | -7 +/-

After some cringey shots to start the game, DeMar went back to what worked in game 5 – getting inside, taking players off the dribble, and scoring within the rhythm of the game.

Defensively though, he couldn’t keep anyone in front of him.

J. Johnson 6 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-1 3FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | -2 +/-

I thought he was fine. Clearly a liability offensively, which, to me, was surprising as I thought his drives might cause some problem’s for the Heat’s small lineup, but he did a good job on Wade / Johnson on defense.

J. Thompson 4 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -6 +/-

Tough outting. Really struggled, especially defending away from the basket.

T. Ross 24 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-4 3FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | -9 +/-

He started off with a lot of energy – help defense was on point and he was giving the Raptors some momentum buckets in the first half, then just cooled off considerably.

L. Nogueira 6 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +1 +/-

On his first assignment he jumped off his feet needlessly on a McRoberts (I think it was) pump. He then scored off a lob in an ATO scenario and that was it. At least he provided some kind of offensive threat in his short burn.

C. Joseph 26 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 3FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 7 PTS | -15 +/-

Roasted by Dragic which probably made him look worse than he really was overall given that Dragic was roasting everyone while hitting some tough contested shots throughout.

In a tough 2nd quarter slump, CoJo took it upon himself to get inside and create, but the one that hurts is his blown layup late in the fourth.

N. Powell 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +0 +/-

Shortest leash of all. He had a nice assist to Ross on the fast-break, and that’s the only noteworthy thing I can remember of Norm tonight.

Dwane Casey

He really needs to figure out what his back-up plan for Biyombo is. I think this indecisiveness is hurting the rhythm of the team. Bebe / JT look cold and unsure of themselves. It seems like that Patterson 5-out lineup to close out the game (although it actually struggled overall) is still the best solution as Patterson is the most capable back-up 5 at this point.

The JJ experiment wasn’t awful, maybe that should be ahead of JT / Bebe in the pecking order.

Four Things We Saw

  1. Goran Dragic man, this guy has been freakishly good and insanely annoying with his antics.

    Somehow this dude needs to be stopped. He’s been getting inside the lane at will and hitting anything and everything that leaves his fingertips.

    He’s a dirty dude, and I really hope the Raptors can figure it out and send him home.

  2. Lowry and DeRozan finally both had great games simultaneously and it went to waste because they had little help from the rest of the team offensively.

    The script was flipped tonight.

  3. Underrated storyline – the Heat did a much better job defending Biyombo in the paint. Not that Bismack is a big part of the offense, but he scores a lot of ‘momentum’ baskets which Miami did a good job of preventing.
  4. Miami deserved to win this game, but man did the referees to the Raptors good. I hate talking about referee ‘favoritisms’, and I still don’t believe there’s any conspiracies, but I do think that it’s a shame that there’s so much incompetency in game 6 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Previous: Pre-game news and notes: Carroll and Deng are both playing, Heat start Winslow
Next: Whiteside and Valanciunas out for Game 7, and other post-game notes