MIAMI – They don’t say how, just how many.
That’s perhaps the best thing the Raptors can keep in mind as they head back to Toronto for Game 5 of what is a strange, unpredictable, not-soon-to-be-replicated series that only loosely resembles basketball.
It more closely looks like a cage match or an alley fight. It’s not pretty to watch and there are times when it’s best to cover your eyes. But those in it are committed to finding a way to come out the other side, to walk through the fire.
At this point no one is expecting to come out unscathed or with pretty statistical lines or without their confidence and will being tested.
One way or the other they have to win four games before the Miami Heat do. Do that and they will have the honour of facing a Cleveland Cavaliers team in the Eastern Conference Final that’s home and rested and must be dreading the prospect of the East’s backwards neighbours crashing their cocktail party, arriving with shredded clothes, claw marks and a nasty disposition.
Regardless of who wins – Miami, Toronto, at this point it’s a complete toss-up – they’ll be the ones who show up looking like the type to start and win the fight at the family barbecue.
"This is playoff basketball at its best," said Heat star Dwyane Wade, who was first to line up for the Canadian anthem before the game, apologized for failing to do so prior to Game 3 and in between was his vintage, Hall-of-Fame self.
"The Toronto Raptors are a very good team. They fight, they’re gritty. This team that we have, we have developed that throughout this season, where we’ve been knocked down and had to continue to get back up and that’s what we continue to do."
It’s becoming more evident that this series will go to that last team standing, and very likely after seven games.
The Heat tied the series 2-2 after they spurted out to an 11-4 advantage in overtime. Toronto was down two with 42 seconds left in the extra frame after a DeMar DeRozan layup. The Heat’s Goran Dragic answered with a three-point play before a Wade steal and dunk sealed it.
Prior to the overtime starting the Raptors and Heat had played 16 quarters and two overtime periods already in the series with the Raptors leading in aggregate 370-368.
The NBA record for overtime games in a seven-game series is four and it’s not hard to imagine these teams getting a piece of that mark with three games (possibly) to play.
"That’s what you get when two teams are trying to make the Conference Finals," said Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, who fouled out with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter and shook off another tough shooting night (2-of-11) to contribute nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals. "We’re going at it, battling, just trying to get wins. Tonight was a real good game, it was fun. We were on the losing side of the fun, but we can learn from it, get better, and continue to grow."
The Raptors had a chance to get a leg up against the Heat and head into Game 5 on Wednesday with a chance to win the series.
It’s kind of funny to think about it. Nothing like that ever happens in Raptorland. The Raptors wouldn’t know what to do with a cushion anyway.
And while there will be all kinds of discussion and frustration about the failings once more of the Raptors all-star backcourt – DeRozan had just nine points on 4-of-17 shooting as he and Lowry were a combined 6-of-28 on the night – it’s instructive to listen to how the other side in the slugfest looks at how the series has unfolded.
"I’m shocked at this point that we haven’t been able to score 100 points," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "And that’s not to discredit Toronto, it’s actually just the opposite. This is very competitive. We have not been able to consistently get in our game.
"I don’t think there was any doubt that this game was going to go into overtime," said Spoelstra. "It’s just one heck of a series. Both teams are going after it … I told the guys for them it’s a privilege to be part of a series like this where you really get challenged."
The Heat did get another vintage outing from Wade, who scored 11 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a swooping layup with 12 seconds left in regulation that sent the game into the extra frame after Toronto led by nine with 6:40 to play and four with 1:30 to play after a Cory Joseph jumper. But Joe Johnson hit a pair of free throws and DeRozan and then Joseph missed some contested jumpers before Wade tied the game. The Raptors had a chance to win it but Joseph missed a jumper after Casey said the Heat pushed them out of their play call.
Part of the Raptors’ struggles down the stretch were attributable to Lowry and DeRozan. Lowry played just 12 minutes in the second half due to foul trouble and was finally done for the night with two minutes gone in regulation. DeRozan sat for 13 minutes from the end of the third quarter before subbing back in with 1:38 left.
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The Raptors trailed after the first quarter and at the half, though they jumped out to a 62-60 lead to start the fourth after a makeshift lineup featuring DeMarre Carroll – who had10 of his 13 points in the third quarter – briefly solved the Heat.
The game itself was strange and uneven as each team tried to adjust for the absence of their starting centres – Jonas Valancuinas (ankle) for the Raptors and Hassan Whiteside (knee) for the Heat.
The result was lot of strange lineups, although Toronto’s Bismack Biyombo (13 points, 13 rebounds) provided his standard combination of muscular rebounding and agile defence. But smaller lineups seemed to win the night and the teams started overtime with Patrick Patterson and Luol Deng jumping at centre.
While Wade gave the Heat the lift they needed, DeRozan wasn’t able to do the same for the Raptors. He has been struggling with his shot, something he acknowledged had at least something to do with the sprain he suffered to his right thumb at the end of Game 1. He’s shooting 35 per cent from the floor in the series and 33 per cent overall in the post-season. He missed a wide-open layup in the second quarter, which he said was indicative of the problems he was having.
"I mean it’s the feeling of being uncomfortable and not doing the things that you normally do with gripping the ball and everything," he said after the game. "And I think that the missed layup really showed me how much I have to deal with it but it’s nothing I’ll ever make an excuse about, but like I said I know for sure I’m not going to shoot like I did tonight next game. I know that for a fact. It’s just something I’m going to have to deal with and push through.
"You can’t let frustration get to you at all. You can’t listen to what the outsiders have to say. You just can’t get caught up in that. You just have to stay positive. Like I said it’s 2-2 and we have a great opportunity to go home and do what we know we can do. In the next two days hopefully it will feel better then."
In any context it’s not shaping up as a series that will be featured in the NBA archives. There are places around the league where playoff basketball has inspired greater ball movement, higher pace, more shot making and something like regular season basketball only better and more intense.
The Raptors haven’t been part of any games like that, really.
They’ve been in some wars, though, and Monday night was another. This whole series against the Heat has been a combat zone. Bodies flying, basketball played medievally, the protagonists perhaps playing with chain mail gloves.
"You have two competitive teams that are going and close to equal, talent-wise," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. "These are two tough-minded teams."
At one point in the fourth quarter Lowry found a wide-open Biyombo on a simple roll to the basket. By the time he caught the pass, it seemed like Biyombo had been fouled by all five Heat players, like lumberjacks taking whacks at a great oak. Eventually Biyombo went down, flat on his back, though he got up to knock down both his free throws. And then he came down to the other end and put Heat rookie Justise Winslow on the deck because he dared come into the paint.
It was that kind of night. The Raptors came up short, but live to fight another day, and a fight is what they have on their hands.
The feeling out process is long done. The body blows have been landed. There are three games left to figure out who will remain standing, doubtless bloody, but unbowed.