After Kyle Lowry miraculously tied Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals and sent it into overtime Tuesday night, the Miami Heat collected themselves and hung on for a thrilling 102-96 victory against the Toronto Raptors.
Chris Bosh made a contribution tonight. He was the guy who spoke to the team before the overtime and told them to relax and re-focus
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 4, 2016
Goran Dragic (26 points) and Dwyane Wade (24 points) led the way for Miami.
Heat center Hassan Whiteside shook off a scary-looking knee injury in the first quarter, finishing with 17 rebounds in the series opener.
Per the AP:
“We had to win the game twice tonight,” Wade said.
Lowry’s improbable 3-pointer from his own side of the halfcourt line capped Toronto’s six-point comeback in the final 20 seconds of regulation, but the Raptors couldn’t deliver in the extra session. Toronto went scoreless for the first 3:46 of overtime before DeMar DeRozan hit a jumper.
Dunks by DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas made it 99-96 with just over 10 seconds to play. Toronto got the ball back after a Miami turnover on the inbounds play, but Wade stripped the ball from DeRozan and sealed it with a three-point play. […] “D-Wade did a great job of reading the play and jumping toward the ball, trying to take the ball away from me,” DeRozan said.