NBA roundup: Sunday’s action on the boards
Life is a lot more enjoyable for the Toronto Raptors now that they’ve finally won a game.
The rebuilding Raptors beat the Miami Heat 107-94 Sunday to snap a woeful nine-game losing streak. And, for now at least, all was right in Raptorland. “I feel good, I’m happy for those guys in there,” Mitchell said, pointing towards the Raptors locker-room, “Being the coach is one thing, but when you have to go out there in front of 19,000 people and prove yourself every night. . . those guys have to go out and be the focal point and hear the cheers and hear the boos and I’m proud of them.”
Bosh had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Raptors, James added 25 points and six assists and Jalen Rose finished with 22 points.
The Raptors’ first victory came against one of the most dangerous teams in the East. Toronto won despite shooting a horrible 16 per cent in the first quarter and trailing by 15 points in the second.
The Raptors battled back with plain old hustle: they outrebounded the Heat 47-39, their shots started falling, and they took their first lead of the game on a basket by Bosh with 4:24 left to play.
“Miami thought it was going to be an easy win for them but they didn’t know we were hungry,” said rookie Charlie Villanueva.
Consecutive baskets by James and Villanueva gave the Raptors a 93-88 lead with 2:27 on the clock and the delirious crowd of 17,594 at the Air Canada Centre didn’t sit down for the rest of the game.
Elsewhere in the NBA on Sunday, it was: New York 103, Portland 92; L.A. Clippers 113, Golden State 101; Indiana 85, Houston 74; Denver 99, Memphis 83; Seattle 106, Sacramento 104; Chicago 96, L.A. Lakers 93.
At Toronto, the Raptors could do little wrong the rest of the way. James connected on a three-pointer with 1:45 left, part of a 14-point fourth-quarter performance for the guard, and Bosh added a basket for good measure with 1:14 on the clock to give Toronto a 10-point lead and cruise to a victory.
“We just got it done,” said Rose. “It wasn’t about the statistics, it wasn’t about shutting down Wade, because we didn’t, it was just about playing four quarters when we had a bad first quarter, finding a way to fight back when we got down during the game and making plays at the end of the game.”
The mood in the post-game dressing room was happy but subdued.
“You can always tell the difference, everyone likes each other again,” grinned James.
“The mood always lightens up after a win, the people are nicer, the food tastes better, practice is more fun,” added Bosh. “It definitely lightens up the mood and it gives us momentum.”
Dwyane Wade scored 33 points to lead the Heat (6-4), who were playing without Shaquille O’Neal, out with a severely sprained ankle.
The Raptors had been closing in on the NBA record for most consecutive losses at the start of the season (17) shared by the Los Angeles Clippers (1998-99) and Miami Heat (1988-89). The Raptors handily beat their previous worst start to the season, when they went 0-3 in 2000-01. But they’d been knocking on victory’s door this past week with close losses to Seattle, Philadelphia (two) and Boston.
