The Miami HEAT defeated the Toronto Raptors 94-87 in overtime Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Dwyane Wade led the way for the HEAT with 30 points. The series is now tied 2-2.
1. Wade Does It Again
Remember Wade’s excellent performance in Game 3? Well, the future Hall-of-Famer answered the call once more. On Monday night, the vet did a little bit of everything against the Raptors and left them looking for answers. Whether it was tough mid-range jumpers, floaters inside or slams in transition, Wade usually found success.
In addition to his 30 points on 13-of-24 shooting, Wade also had four rebounds and two assists on the night.
2. Winslow Wise Beyond His Years
On a few plays down the stretch, Justise Winslow guarded Kyle Lowry quite well and came through on some frenetic defensive sequences towards the end of the game. Once Lowry fouled out, Winslow then focused his attention to Cory Joseph and forced him into two big misses at the end of regulation.
On the flip side of the ball, the rookie connected on some tough baseline drives earlier in the contest. But as usual with him, it’s all about his defensive prowess.
In all, the 20-year-old tallied nine points, four boards and a plus-seven rating on 4-of-5 shooting.
3. Cool Joe
Johnson simply brought that veteran leadership you’d expect at this time of year. He finished with 15 points, three assists, three steals and two rebounds in addition to those two blocks in Game 4.
4. Strong Defense
In the first half, Miami did a superb job on the defensive end against Toronto. In fact, the HEAT forced the Raptors to shoot just 29.3 percent through the first two quarters. In particular, Luol Deng made things very tough for DeMar DeRozan and held him to just 2-of-12 shooting before halftime.
The solid defense early on led to 12 fast break points in the first half, as Miami pushed the pace off misses and turnovers.
As a whole, the HEAT fought hard over screens and rotated quickly. After a little bit of a lull in the third quarter, Miami amped things up defensively late in the contest to ensure the victory.
Game Note: Hassan Whiteside (knee) and Chris Bosh were inactive.