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Raptors vs. Heat
Sunday, November 16, 2008

TORONTO (CP) - Will Solomon was King for a day.

The Raptors reserve point guard, who earned his royal nickname while toiling in the Euroleague, filled in for an injured Jose Calderon on Sunday and led Toronto to a 107-96 win over the Miami Heat that snapped a two-game losing streak.

"I was happy, Will knows what he's doing, he's a professional,'' Chris Bosh said after the game. "We were behind him, we gave him a lot of support coming in and we didn't make a big deal out of it, we weren't in his face like 'Will, you've got to do well,' we just said 'play ball, we're supporting you.' He came out and did a great job and had some big numbers for us.''

Bosh scored 27 points to top Toronto, while Jermaine O'Neal grabbed 18 rebounds in his strongest defensive game of the season. Kris Humphries finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Solomon had 15 points and 11 assists.

With Calderon nursing a hamstring injury, and Raptors fans crossing their fingers until his return, Solomon provided a measure of relief, running Toronto's offence effectively in the fifth start of his NBA career.

"We just go over these things every day in practice, I felt confident in my ability, especially being out there with the guys that I'm playing with, they make me feel comfortable, so whatever you bring to practice just bring it to a game, that's the way I look at it,'' said Solomon, who played a season with Memphis before heading overseas, spending the next six years in the Euroleague before Toronto signed him.

Seven Raptors scored in double digits for Toronto (5-4), with Andrea Bargnani contributing 12 points in his first start this season, O'Neal adding 11, and Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono scoring 10 apiece.

Dwyane Wade scored 29 points to top the Heat (5-5), while Daequan Cook had 16.

The Raptors led just 80-78 going into the fourth quarter of the back-and-forth affair that had seen the lead change 22 times to that point.

But Toronto took over the game early in the fourth quarter, sparked by a 13-3 run, and when O'Neal stretched for a huge block on Cook followed seconds later by a three-pointer by Kapono, the capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre was on its feet and the Raptors were up by 13 points with 7:15 left.

Toronto would go up by 15 after a three by Solomon before Wade single-handedly got Miami back in the game with six straight points, pulling the Heat within nine points.

Miami cut Toronto's lead to five points in a final few ugly minutes, but a dunk by Bosh with just over a minute to play followed by a steal by Parker that led to a three-point play by O'Neal sealed the victory for Toronto, only the team's second at home this season.

"It was just a matter of what team turned it up,'' Wade said. "It was a game for both of us to win going into the fourth quarter. We kept sparring with them and they finally turned it up a notch.''

With O'Neal patrolling the paint, the Raptors outrebounded the Heat 52-35 - 34-15 on the offensive end alone - in an impressive defensive performance.

"He is getting back into the rhythm,'' Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said of O'Neal, who missed a good chunk of the past two seasons with knee injuries. "He's able to practise every day, and he is able to work on his body. When you miss two years, it is hard to just walk right back into it. But every day he is going to get a little bit better.''

O'Neal showed his attention to defence that first attracted the Raptors.

"You can't shoot badly and not play defence, that's the worst combination you can have in basketball,'' O'Neal said. "So a person like myself, I'm still not where I want to be offensively, still don't have that explosion, but I know what I have to do is be effective, whatever it's going to be, whether it's rebounding, blocking shots, scoring, that's what I have to do for this team to do well.''

Calderon, who averaged 13.5 points and nine assists through the first eight games this season, missed the game with a right hamstring strain, suffered in Wednesday's 106-96 loss to Philadelphia. The game marked the first time he's sat out since the 2006-07 season.

Bargnani, who's looked significantly more engaged this season than in his previous two seasons, replaced struggling Jamario Moon in the starting lineup, and had another strong performance, scoring on long-range jumpers, driving to the basket and sprinting for loose balls.

Mitchell said the decision to insert the former No. 1 draft pick into the starting lineup was easy - he's been playing better than the other two options (Moon and Joey Graham).

"We've just got to find a way to get more out of that position. Andrea does give you a viable option of scoring, he can score the basketball,'' Mitchell said before the game. "He's really made improvements defensively and rebounding the ball. We just got to try to improve in the areas that we can improve on.''

Montreal's Joel Anthony finished with two points and four rebounds for the Heat, but looked decent in the 12 minutes he was on the floor, blocking a shot by Bosh in the second quarter and then scoring Miami's next basket, driving along the baseline for a dunk.

The Raptors got out to a strong start and with Solomon running the offence shot a decent 50 per cent from the field in the first quarter. Toronto led by five points before Chris Quinn drained a three with less than a second on the clock and the Raptors led 29-27 heading into the second.

Toronto's second unit struggled in the second quarter, shooting just 38 per cent and trailing by as many as six points late in the frame. Bargnani's layup on the last play of the half sent the Raptors into the locker-room trailing 54-50.

Bosh scored 11 points in the third quarter, but the Raptors couldn't put any ground on the Heat, and led by just two points with a quarter left to play.

NOTES: Miami is the only team in the league that boasts two Canadians in Anthony and Toronto's Jamaal Magloire. Magloire has yet to play this season after breaking his left hand in the pre-season. . . . The Heat's Shawn Marion played in a facemask he's been forced to wear for the past two weeks to protect a broken nose. . . . The Raptors were 4-0 against Miami last season, sweeping the season series with the Heat for the first time in franchise history. . . . The Raptors are in Orlando on Tuesday and Miami on Wednesday before returning home to host the New Jersey Nets on Friday.