Raptors look to take down second straight recent champion

1

January 23, 2013 by amiracle15

Lebron James grimaces as Ed Davis gropes for his pancreas. Surprisingly, no foul was called.

Well this should be interesting. The Raptors are only 10.5 point underdogs, but I think that most are expecting a blowout, especially since we’re in Miami. Road steal anybody? Anybody?

Fairly even early on with both teams scoring pretty much at will, as many first quarters tend to go.

It should be noted that that the Heat have 3 players that are better than every single Raptor. Every single one.

Offence is doing well though with Landry Fields making multiple nice connections. Noice!

Ed Davis! 3 for 3 all dunks! 16-14 Toronto

Demar Derozan is back, folks. That’s 4 assists already in the first quarter, the latest coming late-clock. Great stuff, D’s. 22-18 Raptors as Erik Spoiled-straw calls timeout.

Beautiful passing again! Anderson to Fields to Johnson for the deuce.

Look, I’m sorry Jack Armstrong: the Ford key matchup is not Derozan and Wade. It might be Derozan but who are we kidding–Lebron James is the most important in literally any game he plays in. Period.

For whatever reason, Kyle Lowry brought his old-man swag back to the court; I’m just hoping his old-man play stays off it.

And sweet mother of Acy we’ve got a 28-22 lead one quarter in!

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The 63% shooting will, admittedly, not be sustained. But as long as we’re limiting the Heat to Mike Miller running jumpers, we’re set.

With Wade and James on the bench, this Heat team is totally different haha. They’re pretty much like the Raptors, and hopefully the lead will remain at 6 or increase in the stars’ little stretch of time off. So far so good–33-26.

One thing I’m missing today is the Sportsnet commercials, since I’m streaming from my laptop. So if I don’t make a Tim Hortons joke at some point, I haven’t lost my cunning and wit. But thanks for caring ❤

Terrence Ross!!! Next. Kobe. Been sayin’ that for months.

Man it’s so great to have dunkers when you’re the underdog.

Wade comes back in at 37-30 Raptors, so we succeeded in holding the lead.

Eek Terrence Ross keeps taking these really tough long 2’s and missing. But so are the Heat you can’t stop my man on the break!! The latest slam (off a solid feed from Fields, I should add) puts us up 46-32 lol. Are we taking a double-didgy lead into halftime? Are we talkin’ bout prac-tix????

Anderson hits the jump shot. I’m telling you, he has a really really good slashing jumpshot, where he uses his elevation and hangtime to steady himself ala Russell Westbrook. A shot he doesn’t use much, but memo to Dwane Casey (because I assume he is a Bronas and the Whale regular): tell him to shoot that shot more!

Great stuff here: they’re reviewing a blocking foul. Riveting.

Aaaand things unraveled bit, don’t really know what happened I was eating cheese. 57-50 Raptors at the half.

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And here we go. Devlin: “the first few minutes of this 3rd quarter are critical”. Derozan first possession: turnover. Ugh.

Raptors catch a break though late-clock. Or maybe they don’t because it means another video review over a fuckin’ defensive foul. And it also means we have to suffer the embarrassment that is Ed Davis shooting free throws but hey–he makes both.

Meanwhile, Davis’s predecessor Chris Bosh misses two free throws. Ha! 63-56 Raptors, the shoes are still on.

Effort possession culminating in a Jose 3 woohoo! All of a sudden the lead is back to double-digits, and I can’t say I’m not pleasantly surprised and/or giddy from head to toe.

21 assists for the Raptors and 14 for the Heat, gotta love this stat.

Lead down to 4 as we enter the ever-frustrating “let’s let the opposing team get 50 offensive rebounds per possession” phase of games when you’re the underdog.

As the Heat tie the game at 73, I am more than marginally annoyed at the Heat fans for a) being raucous and b) poorly attending the game (at least, the front row seats for rich people)

Blarg the lead is lost.

Ross dunk from like 15 feet out. Seriously, that was nuts. 80-77 Heat marks the entry of John Lucas III into the game… why? The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways…

Aww yeah Ross from downtown, literally every bucket he scores is noteworthy since it’s either a 3 or a dunk. Down 4 to end the third.

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Offensive rebound after offensive rebound for the Heat… torture to watch. Luckily they keep missing 3’s or else this game would be over.

Aaron and John Lucas II on at the same time…. waaahhh?? Well, nothing disastrous has happened yet, 92-90 Heat. With 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter, both teams will be over 100 at the end for sure, so I guess we won’t be winning this one. Oh wait, we just won a game whilst giving up 100+, and oh wait, that stat was stupid to begin with.

97-94, we finally get an offensive rebound and then promptly turn it over yolo.

I bet that, despite his minimal minutes, John Lucas III is top 10 in the league in number of crossover dribbles. Hey, every dog is king of something. Or something like that.

Aww, Dwyane Wade has a bwuddy nose….

Despite Erik Spoiled-straw’s slovenly dress, we have ourselves a tie game.

Goddamn it, another offensive rebound. Whoa, just checked the stats and the Heat are up 14-4 in that category. Just let that sink in.

Speaking of sinking in, Derozan cuts for 2 and we get a lead for all of 5 seconds as Allen  does the exact same on the other end, albeit with no defence to stop him.

Calderon trey! 105-105. Upset lesgo!!!

Calderon trey again! Get it in Hose-A!!!

Lebron James three for three in a row, wowza. 108-108

109-109 and Bosh misses the second free throw, and guess what? Offensive rebound. Luckily James throws it away after. 36 seconds left; tie game.

Damnit, Derozan gets stood up in the lane, Heat with the ball under 24 seconds.

Lebron misses the nonchalant shot–we’re headed to the dreaded land of…. OT.

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YESSIR!!! Alan Anderson for three on the first play of OT–that’s what I call a start. But on the next play, Amir Johnson fouls out knocking Dwyane Wade from beyond the arc, giving him 3 free throws. Rookie mistake Amir, defending the perimeter ain’t yo job.

Wade shanks 2 of 3, however. The Heat have missed–get this–14 free throws.

Since when is Alan Anderson our point guard given the the green light to shoot 30 shots a game? 115-114 Miami on a Wade hook.

Another Anderson miss, friggin hell.

Ray Allen wide open three, strokes it like a video game. Aye-aye-aye….

Man, we had a 4-point lead in OT and then it all just unraveled. Can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m a little disappointed. Too many AA jumpers.

123-116 Heat. Tough one to swallow getting so close, but a loss is a loss.

Game Bench: Jose Calderon, almost putting us over the edge with threes in the fourth. Almost.

Game Toad: Dwane Casey for his wonky lineup choices which actually worked out pretty well.

Game Goat: Weird to give it to the team’s high scorer, but Anderson’s 20 points came at the cost of 8 missed threes, many of those in overtime.