Toronto Raptors Still Have Much to Prove After Averting Disaster in Game 2

It was another dreadful game for the Toronto Raptors’ All-Star backcourt, but the supporting cast kept the contest from being an outright catastrophe.

Despite failing to protect several late-game leads—namely being up four with 45.9 seconds left in the fourth, then up three with 14.9 remaining—the Raptors did just enough to eke out a 96-92 overtime win over the Miami Heat.

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The ongoing struggles of guards Kyle Lowry (18 points on 7-of-22 shooting) and DeMar DeRozan (20 on 9-of-24) make it easy to wonder if the playoff lights are simply too bright for this Toronto team. But even though the Raptors squandered home-court advantage, they avoided what could have been a debilitating 0-2 series hole and kept their postseason pulse pumping.

“[Tonight was] definitely a must-win,” Lowry told ESPN’s Heather Cox afterward. “Even though we didn’t protect home court, it’s 1-1. It’s an even series, 0-0 in my mind. They gotta beat us three times, we gotta beat them three times.”

Can the Raptors win three of the next five without getting their guards back on track? It’s tough to even imagine that happening. They collectively carry so much of the offensive load, and their putrid playoff shooting percentages (33.7 for DeRozan, 30.8 for Lowry) have almost torpedoed what was the NBA regular season’s fifth-rated offense.

But, with one victory in hand, Toronto has realized it can outlast Miami’s seventh-rated defense on a far-less-than-perfect night. And the Raptors should figure out they have more offensive weapons than their struggling top guns.

The Raptors just witnessed the best playoff game yet from offseason import DeMarre Carroll, who tallied 21 points, five rebounds and four steals in just under 40 minutes.

“He was the savior tonight offensively,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said, per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg.

Toronto is also discovering—or should be, at least—that Jonas Valanciunas’ interior offense is the perfect counter to the Heat’s shot-blocking center, Hassan Whiteside.

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“He’s definitely the reason we won this game,” DeRozan said of Valanciunas, per Raptors Republic’s Blake Murphy.

It took a blue-collar effort and a game-high six offensive rebounds for Valanciunas to put his imprint …

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