The Eastern Conference's current number one seed, Toronto Raptors, extended their winning streak to six Tuesday night with a nail-biting 115-112 win over the Miami Heat. They also reached 40 wins in the process (40-16).
As usual, the backcourt tandem of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan did most of the damage, combining for 49 points and 12 assists. A couple of guys from the supporting cast showed up too — Serge Ibaka had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double while Fred VanVleet was all-around with 10 points, four rebounds, and six assists.
Despite that, though, it’s not all smiles in the Raptors locker room, as DeRozan told reporters after the game that their victory didn’t look good. Beat writer and reporter Josh Lewenberg shared the All-Star guard's remarks on Twitter:
DeRozan: "It was terrible. It was a terrible win. We can't close out games like that."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 14, 2018
DeRozan isn't alone in his sentiments. Lowry and head coach Dwayne Casey basically said the same post-game:
According to Lowry:
“I think we all were displeased.. We could have closed it out better.”
Meanwhile, Casey had this to say:
“Closing out games has been an issue for us… I’m upset, even though we won, because I know — I know what’s coming around the corner… Like you’re going down a dark alley, here comes a group of guys with a baseball bat and you say, ‘oh, hey, where’s the baseball game?’ It’s 12 o’clock at night, you know what’s coming around the corner.”
The Raptors' three leaders are referring to the near choke job they almost did against the Heat. They scored 41 points in the third quarter to enter the final frame with a 17-point lead, but almost lost the game after allowing a 16-3 run in the last 4:42 seconds.
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