Raptors beat Heat behind another remarkable RJ Barrett home game

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Nobody has liked home as much as RJ Barrett since Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

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Barrett, of nearby Mississauga, continued his torrid start to the season at home, leading the Toronto Raptors to a 119-116 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night.

Barrett scored 37 points, Toronto bullied Miami with its size and the victory was a well-earned team effort. Tyler Herro did his best to steal a win for Miami with 31 points. In the end, about all Barrett could be faulted for was holding the ball too long late in the game, passing to Scottie Barnes, who had just hit a big three-pointer, too late for a shot clock violation, giving Miami a chance to tie the game. But Herro’s long three-pointer was short, Toronto secured the layup and Barnes eventually hit a free throw to seal the game.

The Raptors improved to 6-15, including 5-4 at home and Miami fell to 9-9.

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Miami had won the opener of the two-game set 121-111 on Friday behind 26 points from Jimmy Butler and a Bam Adebayo triple-double.

The Heat had converted 19 Toronto turnovers into 27 points and the Raptors gave up 21 three-point makes on a season-high 54 attempts to the Heat in that one.

On Sunday, the game started out a lot different. The Raptors didn’t commit a single turnover in the first quarter, Barrett scored 13 points and the team led by 10. Only Herro’s 6-for-7 start kept Miami close.

But the Raptors reverted to previous form in the second, committing eight turnovers, allowing the Heat to take a six-point lead. But rookie Ja’Kobe Walter had the best quarter of his short career, scoring 10 points in a variety of ways, to help the Raptors take a 65-60 lead into halftime.

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Barrett scored 10 more points in the third, missing only a shot, the Raptors got the turnovers down to only two and though Jimmy Butler finally heated up, scoring nine points, Toronto extended its lead to 11 with a quarter to go.

An 11-2 Heat run made things interesting as the game wound down, but the Raptors held on.

Barrett moved to 23.72 points per game at home as a Raptor, ahead of Vince Carter’s 23.69 per game. Only Kawhi Leonard (26.5 in the season that ended with a championship) has averaged more.

It doesn’t sound like the Raptors will be getting reinforcements back imminently. Head coach Darko Rajakovic said pre-game that while Gradey Dick’s calf issues are improving, he remains day-to-day, with the hope that he will practice sometime during the week. Bruce Brown initially a candidate to play on the road trip, is still in a reconditioning program with no timeline for his first appearance of the season. Rajakovic did say the Raptors won’t rush Brown’s return. Veteran big man Kelly Olynyk continues to ramp up to his own season debut, while Immanuel Quickley has not yet been cleared for contact.

Toronto will have a busy week without them. The team welcomes Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder two days later and Luka Doncic (just back from injury) and the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.

@WolstatSun

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