After struggling for the first nine games of the NBA Playoffs, Kyle Lowry picked a good time to return to form, pacing the Raptors with 33 points en route to a 95-91 win over the Miami Heat in Game 3 on Saturday.
Early in the game, it looked as if Toronto was going to cruise to victory, as the Raptors carried a four-point lead into the second quarter, focusing their attack down low as Miami lost Hassan Whiteside to a knee injury after the rebounder and blocked shot specialist logged just eight minutes.
Ahead by nine after the break, the Raptors lost their big man in the middle in the third, as Jonas Valanciunas rolled his right ankle in the defensive end and quickly headed back to the dressing room. It was a significant blow for Toronto, as the Lithuanian had collected 16 points and 12 rebounds prior to the injury and gave Miami a way back into the game.
And the Heat took it.
Carried by their own All-Star Dwyane Wade, who finished with 38 points, Miami erased Toronto’s nine-point lead to send the game into the fourth quarter tied 68-68. The home side actually got up as many as six early in the final frame, but Toronto was able to claw their way back, with Lowry leading the way.
He put Toronto up by one with a three pointer with a little more than five minutes left to play and the Raptors would not trail again. Lowry poured in 29 of his 33 points in the second half, finding his shot and his swagger as the game progressed, shooting better than .500 from the floor for the first time in the playoffs, including 5-for-8 from deep.
DeMar DeRozan contributed 19 for Toronto, but it was another high volume, poor percentage performance for the impending free agent. The two-time All-Star went 6-for-17 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the line, continuing to force tough shots in traffic. The positive is that he rebounded from an ugly performance at the foul line in Game 2 and continues to be good for 15-plus per night, but with Valanciunas’ status going forward uncertain, further consistency and quality play from DeRozan will be crucial.
Game 4 goes on Monday and whether or not Valanciunas and Whiteside are able to return could have a major impact on how the rest of this series plays out.
Toronto played a chunk of the regular season without Valanciunas this year and used a two-headed monster approach in the middle for much of the season, getting a great year out of Bismack Biyombo. But with Whiteside out for Miami on Saturday, “Biz” wasn’t as effective replacing Valanciunas as both the Heat and Raptors went small.
If both men are out on Monday, that should still favour Toronto, as Patrick Patterson and Luis Scola are capable of starting at the five, while Miami used a combination of Udonis Haslem, Josh McRoberts and Amar’e Stoudamire without Whiteside. Even if Whiteside is back, Biyombo can draw in, which should keep things close for the Raptors, while the best case scenario for Toronto would be Valanciunas returning and Whiteside remaining on the sidelines, as the Dinos and their fourth-year center were dominating the action in the paint before his exit.
More importantly than Valanciunas’ status, however, is the fact that as of now, it looks like Kyle Lowry is finally back and with their All-Star point guard firing on all cylinders, the Raptors are now just two wins away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.
