Undermanned Heat lose 4th straight to surging Raptors 101-81

They won’t have starting guard Dwayne Wade either, out with a lingering shoulder injury.

Miami Heat All-Star Dwyane Wade played through his shoulder soreness to score 22 points in a losing effort, 101-81, in Toronto.

Lowry was trying to save a loose ball early in the first quarter for the Toronto Raptors when he toppled out of bounds, landing on a woman sitting in the first row. Wade had 22 points and Bosh 26.

The Toronto Raptors have been guilty in the past of ignoring that tenet, of allowing banged-up teams to stay in games far longer than they should, often at their peril.

By the end of the half, the Raptors led by three points but it was immediately erased after a 30-point third quarter by the Heat. He’s got an opportunity to get into the paint. He’s on fire with three consecutive games with at least 30 points. For us defensively and offensively we didn’t execute in anything. “We’ve got so many bodies down, you want to get out there and help our team when you can”.

Former Raptor Chris Bosh, with 10 first-quarter points, went over the 17,000 mark for his career. “Nobody else will, we know that”.

Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, nominated for best supporting actress at next month’s Oscars for her role in “Spotlight”, sat courtside and was serenaded by the Toronto mascot, the Raptor, in the first quarter. Some believe the duty could now fall to the coach of the East’s second-place team, Toronto. “I just try to go out there and win”. With the teams performance in the past 7 games, it clear that Casey’s system is finally clicking. This lineup has accumulated the highest Player Impact Estimate (PIE), and the second highest eFG% and True Shooting % of any lineup the Raptors have used this season.

It was hard not to feel bad for the team when head coach Erik Spoelstra started his shoot-around media scrum on Friday with a resigned: “I came prepared”, before running off an injury list that included starters Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, Luol Deng and Dwyane Wade, among others. Friday’s game was 10 years to the day that Lakers star Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 victory over the Raptors at the Staples Center.

The Raptors (28-15) had not won seven games in a row since March 22-April 9, 2002, on their way to a franchise-record nine-game winning streak. Friday’s game was the first time the Air Canada Centre has sold out for the first 20 home games to begin a season.

Though the stellar play of Lowry and DeRozan is a big reason for the Raptors’ success this season, we certainly can not discount Casey’s coaching.

Chris Bosh will be the only Miami starter available tonight against the Raptors (8 p.m., ESPN and Fox Sports Sun).