Heat at Raptors
That brief blip in an otherwise stellar first two months for the Toronto Raptors is a thing of the past, and the team is rolling along again. The Raptors will try to push their latest winning streak to five straight when they wrap up a two-game homestand by hosting the Miami Heat on Sunday.
Toronto began the season 12-1 before dropping three in a row but won each of its last four games by an average of 18.8 point to reassert its dominance over the rest of the Eastern Conference. "We're playing well, I still think we can get better," Raptors small forward Kawhi Leonard told reporters after a 125-107 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday. "Our whole lineup hasn't been here, guys have been out, so once we just get everybody here, and playing, like I said this upcoming schedule is going to be good, just all of us playing, and getting that rhythm of playing, one day off and then game, it's going to be good." The Heat began their two-game trip by earning a 103-96 win in Chicago on Friday, snapping a three-game slide. Miami failed to reach 100 points in any of those three losses and just barely eclipsed that mark while shooting 42.5 percent from the floor against the Bulls.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), Sportsnet One (Toronto)
ABOUT THE HEAT (7-11): Miami's best offensive player on Friday was shooting guard Josh Richardson, who scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and finished 10-of-16 from the floor. "He's been doing a great job all year of being willing to take all those shots," Heat guard Dwyane Wade told reporters of Richardson. "When you have success, it gives you more confidence to take them. Even in the moments when you miss them. I think he understands he's our guy, we're going to him. He's picking up the phone every time we call him, for the most part, and that's all you can ask for." Richardson went 5-of-9 from beyond the arc on Friday after going a combined 0-of-6 in the two previous contests.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (16-4): Toronto knocked down 17-of-39 from beyond the arc on Friday as reserves OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright combined to go 8-of-12 from beyond the arc. "We had a couple of guys back that could shoot, we're slowly working those guys back in there," Raptors coach Nick Nurse told reporters. "Yeah, we hit some tonight. Started early and it kept on going." Leonard only connected on one of his four attempts from 3-point range but went 12-of-22 from the field after sitting out Wednesday's win at Atlanta to rest on the second night of a back-to-back.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Raptors SF CJ Miles (groin) returned from a five-game absence on Friday and went 3-of-10 from the floor in 18 minutes.
2. Heat C Hassan Whiteside recorded his 13th double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds on Friday.
3. Miami earned a 116-109 overtime victory in its last visit to Toronto on April 11.