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National Basketball Association
Toronto 96, Miami 87
When: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, November 4, 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Officials: #74 Curtis Blair, #55 Bill Kennedy, #42 Eric Lewis
Attendance: 19800

TORONTO -- Not since Michael Jordan has a player accomplished what DeMar DeRozan has to begin this season.

The shooting guard scored 34 points Friday night as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Miami Heat 96-87 for their third straight victory. DeRozan has scored 30 or more points in all five games this season.

The last player to start a season with at least 30 points in five straight games was Jordan, whose streak reached six games from Nov. 1-11, 1986.

"He's been great, he's been a great leader and his approach has been very professional," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "He came out, and I don't ever say this, overpassed. He tried to make some plays that weren't there instead of doing what he does and let the game dictate some of those shots."

"He's a handful," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Because he can create offense in the flow of what they're trying to do, but he can also generate offense when he's getting specific plays calls and then he can create something out of nothing at the end of the clock.

"So we tried to give him some different looks. We really wanted to try to take the ball out of his hands a couple of times, but we weren't able to do it."

DeRozan set a club record by scoring 30 or more points in five straight games when he hit a jump shot with 2:31 to play. He added a floating jumper with 1:53 left and two free throws with 24.3 seconds to go to help seal the game for Toronto.

"There were a couple of shots that I passed up," DeRozan said. "I think I had four turnovers, quick ones, but just go up and shoot it and make a decision from there."

Terrence Ross added 20 points off the bench for Toronto and Kyle Lowry scored 13 points and had eight assists.

Jonas Valanciunas added five points and 11 rebounds for Toronto (4-1).

Hassan Whiteside led the Heat (2-3) with 21 points and 16 rebounds.

"He was tremendous, really impactful, he's playing hard and he's making better reads on both ends of the court," Spoelstra said. "He just has to keep building and he's doing that in big minutes, too."

Tyler Johnson added 16 points off the bench for the Heat, Goran Dragic added 15, Justise Winslow 13 and James Johnson 11.

DeRozan had tied the club record of four straight games with 30 or more points on Wednesday when he scored 40 points in the win over the Washington Wizards. Mike James also scored 30 or more points in four consecutive games in 2005 for the Raptors.

After leading by as many as 12 points, the Heat led 27-25 after the first quarter in which DeRozan had 10 points.

"We feel like we started the game well," Dragic said. "We shared the ball, we had a lot of great looks, open shots, but then we had a couple of bad possessions and turnovers they came back and took the lead. The third quarter was good for us, but in the fourth we were not focused enough and made too many mistakes."

Lowry's 3-pointer propelled the Raptors into a 35-32 lead early in the second quarter and the Raptors took a 52-46 lead into the second half.

Ross led the first-half scorers with 16 points.

Two baskets by Pascal Siakam on assists by Lowry had the Raptors leading 58-48 with 9:48 to play in the third quarter. Lowry's 3-pointer bumped the lead to 12 and DeRozan banked in a floating jumper to increase the lead at 14. The lead reached 16 on two free throws by DeRozan.

The Heat trimmed the lead to 75-72 when James Johnson put in a layup to end the third quarter.

Ross made a pull up jumper with 9:17 to play in the fourth quarter to put the Raptors ahead by eight points and Norman Powell made a floating jumper to increase the lead to 10 points.

Tyler Johnson's 3-pointer cut the Toronto lead to five points. Lowry's shot got the lead to seven on a fadeaway jumper.

NOTES: Heat G Josh Richardson (sprained right MCL) was cleared to play Friday after missing the first four games of the season and did not have a point in 11:36. ...Heat G Wayne Ellington (right thigh contusion) missed his fifth straight game to open the season. ... The teams were meeting for the first time since the Raptors defeated the Heat 116-89 at Air Canada Centre in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history. Toronto also won the season series, 3-1, in 2015-16. ... The Raptors' next game is Sunday against the Sacramento Kings at Air Canada Centre. ... The Heat play Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Top Game Performances
 
Miami   Toronto
Hassan Whiteside 21 Scoring DeMar DeRozan 34
Goran Dragic 5 Assists Kyle Lowry 5
Hassan Whiteside 16 Rebounds Jonas Valanciunas 11
Justise Winslow 3 Free Throws Made DeMar DeRozan 6
Tyler Johnson 3 Steals Kyle Lowry 3
Tyler Johnson 2 Blocks Kyle Lowry 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Miami 87 38.6 9-28 10-15 19 43 5 10 13
Toronto 96 44.0 6-25 16-18 14 50 5 7 16
Upcoming Games
  • Toronto will play their next game at home against Sacramento. The Raptors have a W/L % of .667 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Miami will play their next game on the road against Oklahoma City. The Heat have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .667 after a loss.