DeMar DeRozan enters tonight’s game as the NBA’s leading scorer. Russell Westbrook scored just 20 points last night in the Thunder’s blowout loss to Kevin Durant’s Golden State Warriors to drop to 34.2 PPG. DeRozan’s 36.3 PPG is now good for first place. He scored 40 points on Wednesday in Washington — including his first made 3-pointer of the season — leading the Raptors to victory in their road opener. He’s making 55% of his shots, a great percentage for a guard.
The Miami Heat roll into town without Dwyane Wade on the roster for the first time since 2003. They’re 2–2, but the 2 wins came against the Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings. Not exactly powerhouse teams. Miami will struggle to make the playoffs, and may opt to trade Goran Dragic and tank if the next 15–20 games don’t go well for them. While this is a rematch of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Wade’s absence saps much of that aspect of the drama out of it.
End of Q1: Heat 27, Raps 25
After going down double digits, the Raptors stormed back behind DeRozan, Ross and the defense of Jakob Poeltl. The rookie is doing a great job protecting the paint. He even stole a pass and pushed the ball to midcourt himself, leading to a Ross 3. Ex-Raptor James Johnson checked in and got an ovation from the crowd.
Halftime:
T-Ross went off early in the 2nd. He leads all scorers with 16. Miami’s bench is wafer-thin. They are playing guys I’ve never heard of. Norm Powell again played the last 2 minutes of the half. Seems like that’s his time in the rotation now. He closed the game out against Washington as no one could stay in front of John Wall. Let’s see if he gets the same opportunity today.
Pascal Siakam gets out on the break for a layup and alley-oop dunk early in the 3rd quarter to open up a double digit lead. Hassan Whiteside throws down a sick reverse dunk on a breakaway. DeRozan is called for a goaltend on what looks like a clean block. All of James Johnson’s adventures are working tonight. He almost crowns JV and gets to the line. He nails a corner 3 in front of the Raptors bench and talks trash to them. He closes the quarter by sprinting three quarters of the court and laying the ball in at the buzzer.
End of Q3: Raps 75, Heat 72
Powell & Ross score the first 7 points of the 4th quarter. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is extremely pissed off. JV and Whiteside get chippy and a double foul is called. Lowry draws a charge on Whiteside right after to give him 5 fouls. The crowd is delighted. DeRozan takes over and puts the game away. Dragic tries holding his jersey for a whole possession and he still draws help and finds JV for a layup.
Final:
Dion Waiters was noticeably awful all night. $50 million man Tyler Johnson, on the other hand, was solid. My guess is the Heat will end up tanking this season. If they draft another young star to pair with Whiteside and add some depth they could be contenders again in a couple of years.
The Raptors just did enough to get the win tonight. It wasn’t a high-intensity game. Norm Powell played the whole 4th quarter, and Carroll gave them nothing. DeRozan finished with 34 points, dropping his average to 35.8 PPG. That’s still good for first in the league. He’s scored at least 30 in all 5 games this season.
