RAPTORS 96, HEAT 92, OT
TORONTO -- DeMarre Carroll scored 21 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Miami Heat 96-92 in overtime on Thursday night to even the Eastern Conference semifinals at one game apiece.
Valanciunas had 11 points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Raptors avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this postseason.
At a glance
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
THURSDAY’S GAME
Toronto 96, Miami 92, OT
Series tied 1-1
TODAY’S GAME All times Central
Cleveland at Atlanta, 7 p.m.
Cleveland leads series 2-0
San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m.
Series tied 1-1
DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, Kyle Lowry had 18 and Terrence Ross 10 for Toronto, which battled back late in the fourth quarter and then shut the Heat down to start overtime.
Goran Dragic scored 20, and Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson each had 17 for the Heat. Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Luol Deng had 12 points.
Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in Miami.
The Heat led 77-70 midway through the fourth, but back-to-back baskets by Valanciunas shaved the gap to 80-78 with 3:18 remaining. Ross tied it with a jumper at 2:01.
DeRozan missed a pair of free throws with 1:22 remaining but Valanciunas grabbed the rebound on the second and tipped it home to give Toronto an 82-80 lead. After a missed shot by Wade, Lowry hit a pull-up jumper with 45 seconds left, giving the Raptors a four-point cushion.
Wade cut it to one with a three but Lowry replied with another jumper with 14.9 seconds to go, putting Toronto up 86-83. After a Miami timeout, Dragic tied with a three with 10.5 seconds left.
Lowry, whose halfcourt shot sent Game 1 to overtime, got the last attempt for the Raptors but couldn't hit the rim with a long three-point attempt.
The Heat went cold in overtime, missing their first five field goal attempts, including three misses by Johnson. DeRozan and Valanciunas connected and Carroll made a pair at the line before Miami's first basket of overtime, a driving dunk by Deng with 23 seconds left.
Miami matched a franchise postseason record with 11 turnovers in the first, leading to 14 Toronto points.
The Raptors led 48-41 at halftime.
Dragic was left bloodied after being hit by DeRozan's elbow in the second. Dragic was called for a blocking foul on the play. He received three stitches on the inside of his lip and five on the outside during halftime, returning to start the second half.
This was the fourth time the Heat made 11 turnovers in one quarter of a playoff game. They last did it in 1997 against Chicago.
Toronto went 14 for 26 at the free throw line. Lowry had as many points in the first quarter (7) as he had in Toronto's OT loss in Game 1.
Sports on 05/06/2016