Goran Dragic scored a postseason career-high 30 points, Dwyane Wade added 22 and the Miami Heat’s small starting lineup came up huge in a 103-91 wire-to-wire victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, tying their Eastern Conference semifinals series 3-3. Joe Johnson had 13 points, Justise Winslow added 12, and Josh McRoberts scored 10 for the Heat. Without Hassan Whiteside due to injury, the Heat looked to go very small by putting Winslow in at the five position.
The big play of the game came in the second quarter when Wade was trapped alongside the baseline, tossed a pass to Josh Richardson at the top of the key and ‘Rook 2’ came in and put down a huge slam over Raptors big man Bismack Biyombo.
Kyle Lowry scored 36 points for Toronto, on 12-for-27 shooting. DeMar DeRozan added 23 for the Raptors, but their teammates combined to shoot 14 of 34 from the floor and manage 32 points. Outside of their All-Star duo, no one on the Raptors scored over 10 points. The duo finally came up big for the Raptors but the others didn’t do anything. The Raps just can’t catch a break while big man Jonas Valanciunas continues to sit out due to his injury.
Wade put the final shutdown of any rumors about his dislike for Goran Dragic with his postgame remarks.
Game 7 is Sunday in Toronto. The winner will head to Cleveland for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.
