By Kyle Soppe
The Toronto Raptors brought all that they had to South Beach on Super Sunday, but came up just short, losing 95-89 to the Heat. Courtesy of Cam White’s request, here is a closer look at the Raptors/Heat box score.
The 95 points scored by Miami was the second fewest in a winning effort this season.
Udonis Haslem recorded nine rebounds and eight points, the 11th straight game with at least as many rebounds as points.
LeBron James made at least 10 free throws for the sixth time this season. The Heat have won all but one of those games. Looking at everything other than points (he managed 30 for the 13th time this season), the Raptors kept James from dominating. They held him to a season low two assists, and forced him into five turnovers. Sunday’s game was the seventh time in eight games in which the King has turned over the rock at least four times.
Joel Anthony’s offensive impact was missed if you blinked during this game. He took only one shot, giving him five attempts in 67 February minutes of action. In those three starts this month, Anthony has more rebounds (11) and fouls (6) than shots. But don’t count him as a useless spectator, as the Heat find a way to dominate when he is in the game, outscoring Toronto by 16 with their starting Center on the court. That matched Dwayne Wade for the best plus/minus in the game.
Speaking of unflattering stat lines that have an odd correlation to winning, we have Shane Battier. The pride of Duke was held scoreless for the eighth time this season, with the Heat winning seven of those contests.
This game was decided at the stripe, where the home town Heat shot 13 more free throws, and outscored the Raptors 29-15 from the free throw line.
Miami’s “Big Three” gets all the hype, but the Raptors “Big Three” (ok, they aren’t called that, but bare with me) of DeMar DeRozan, Jared Bayless, and Linas Kleiza hung right with them. The trio from North of the border combined for 59 points, only eight less than the Heat’s group of all stars.
Toronto scored 61% of their total points in their two highest scoring quarters.
DeRozan is coming along nicely as a solid player in this league, but he isn’t yet a star player who can win his team games. He scored 22+ points for the seventh time this season, with Toronto only winning three of those games. He attempted 10+ free throws for the forth time this season, usually a good sign of attacking the basket. But the Raptors are 1-3 in those games.
Jerryd Bayless stepped his game up, but less is more with his shot attempts in 2011-2012. At times he can be a volume shooter, and when he attempts 10+ shots from the field, Toronto has dropped four out of five.
Back to a full slate of games today, what game would you like an extended analysis of? Post or tweet me @unSOPable23
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