Dragic’s 30 Points Help Heat Stay Alive

The Miami Heat lived to see another day with their 103-91 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday.

Goran Dragic had a playoff career-high 30 points in the win. As has been the case multiple times in the playoffs, Dragic was a leader on the court and added seven rebounds and four assists.

Miami was facing elimination and came out like a team that had to win. The Heat were once again without the services of Hassan Whiteside, and also had an ailing Luol Deng on the court. The Heat battled and picked up the win to keep their season alive with a strong effort from the start.

After winning the first quarter by one point, the Heat turned up the intensity and took a nine-point lead into the half. Dragic was a big reason for that lead as the guard had 19 points in the first half alone. Dragic also assisted on four other scores in the first half.

Miami won the third quarter by a point to extend its lead a bit more. The Heat had an even better advantage at times during the quarter as Toronto refused to go down quietly. The lead would shrink during the fourth quarter before Miami was able to put the game away with a Joe Johnson trey with around two minutes to go.

Dwyane Wade had another strong game with 22 points, five assists, six rebounds, three blocks and a pair of steals.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra tried something different in this one with Justise Winslow starting. The rookie played center and ended up doing a solid job with the assignment. Winslow had 12 points and three rebounds in 27 minutes on the court.