Reaction: Raptors 116, Heat 123 (OT)

Great production in only 24 minutes of play, got saddled with four fouls, and was then suffocated by his coach. No idea where he was in the fourth and OT, I figured he’d be ideal to play small-ball as the C. While he was in, though, he made Miami pay for pressuring the perimeter by cutting to the rim every time. Jack Armstrong was openly begging for Davis to be introduced and replace Gray, which he eventually did.

Silly “foul” on Bosh late in regulation, but another game where he finished well in close quarters, ran the court, while playing with fouls. He did end up fouling out early in OT, but at least he stuck around for most of that fourth. The lack of size in Miami’s frontline helped him out and he wasn’t worn down like he usually is when playing 30+ minutes.

Abandoned by Casey once he decided to put out four-guard lineups in the second half. While he was in there, he brought some ball-handling and some nifty opportunistic passing which got the team some points. He’s turning out to be moderately serviceable. The D on LeBron was commendable early, but biting on Wade’s pull-up from 21-feet out was lame. Bad defense there, cost the Raptors two key points.

After a pretty tight shooting performance for the first three quarters, he sat and sat and sat. When he did come in, he drained two threes late in the fourth while going toe-to-toe with LeBron. For a while there, with Lowry going rogue, you thought Casey had blown it in regulation.

Another so-so performance where he lacked the drive and was predictably benched in favor of Anderson in the fourth. Even more predictably, Casey brought him in with 7 minutes left in regulation and he delivered two key scores, including one thunderous dunk which set the tone for the Raptors. One has to wonder, though, if it shouldn’t be DeRozan taking those shots that Anderson was taking in OT. Own the game, man, own the game.

Got in there for four minutes and nicked a steal off Bosh. Well done.

I recall him lunging at Ray Allen in the corner as he was shooting a three. Allen made the three. Seriously though, why was he even dressed for this game, let alone allowed to get playing time ahead of Ed Davis?

Part of a four-guard lineup deployed in the fourth which effectively kept the Raptors in the game and matched Miami’s ball-handling and athleticism at the wings reasonably well.

Remember Joey Graham and there was a ‘Good Joey’ and a ‘Bad Joey’, well, there’s a ‘Good Lowry’ and ‘Bad Lowry’, and today ‘Bad Lowry’ showed up. Bad Lowry had two big threes in the first half, provided a nice bump, but in the fourth had two costly turnovers and let Wade blow by him like he wasn’t there. I try to judge him by his defense more and more, and that has been truly disappointing.

Once again our man got hot in the fourth, started hot in OT and then missed six straight shots. Again, I’m not blaming him for taking those shots because in key situations like these, the instructions and game-plan have to come from the coach, who has to call the plays for his supposed big guns, not Anderson. Forget everything, though, my beef with Anderson is leaving Allen wide open on three in the corner. Bad cover.

Decent production, but took too many shots but at the same time I can’t fault him since they were pretty decent looks.

Sat Calderon too long. Sat Davis way too long. Played Gray for no reason, when against the Miami frontline, Quincy Acy is a much better choice. Forget that, just play Davis! The positive adjustment he made had to be going to the smaller lineup in the second half, but at the same time how does he justify introducing Gray for any reason?