-If you watched the first quarter of this game, you probably shut it off. If you watched the fourth quarter, you probably shut it off before it was over as well. It was that type of game for the Toronto Raptors who in all too familiar fashion, started off slow, got going, fought hard, but then collapsed down the stretch, losing tonight to the Miami Heat, 113 to 101.
-You have to give the Dinos credit though because up until that fourth quarter, this hardly looked like a match-up between a club that had won 36 games and one that had lost nearly that many. Toronto got a lights out third quarter from Andrea Bargnani in terms of scoring (he finished the game with 27), and great production from the likes of DeMar DeRozan and Jose Calderon. DeRozan in fact continued his recent offensive excellence dropping in a game-high 28 points on 9 of 17 shooting and as an added bonus, he got to the line 10 times, making all 10. Calderon was his usual brilliant self in terms of getting the rock to his teammates, but he stuffed the other statistical categories too, finishing with 9 points, 6 rebounds and yes, a ridiculous 16 assists.
-The difference though was that while Toronto's starters were good, Miami's were great, especially in that fourth quarter that saw them put up 30 points to TO's 18. And while the aforementioned Dinos put up some nice stats, they were a combined minus 47 on the night as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were simply too much. The trio combined for a ridiculous 89 points and were a plus 42.
-It's hard to overstate how big a difference those three made because other than the turnover statistic (Toronto had 16 allowing for 21 Miami points) most other categories were neck and neck. Both clubs shot over 50 per cent from the field and really, it was the star power of LeBron, Wade and Bosh that got this W for the Heat.
-As a result, Toronto drops to 17 and 35 on the season but there's definitely a silver lining in this L. Not only did fans get pizza thanks to Toronto topping 100 points, but the loss combined with a Washington upset win over Philadelphia helps the ping-pong ball picture as the club heads into a key stretch of games.