Carroll scores 21, Raptors beat Heat in OT to tie series

TORONTO — Toronto beat Miami 96-92 in overtime on Thursday (Friday in Manila) to even their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

 

DeMarre Carroll scored 21 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds

 

Valanciunas had 11 points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime.

 

DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, Kyle Lowry had 18 and Terrence Ross 10 for Toronto, which battled back late in the fourth quarter to force the second overtime of the series, then shut the Heat down to start it.

 

Goran Dragic scored 20, and Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson each had 17 for the Heat. Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Luol Deng had 12 points.

 

Game 3 is Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Miami.

 

The Heat led 77-70 midway through the fourth, but back-to-back baskets by Valanciunas shaved the gap to 80-78 with 3:18 remaining. Ross tied it with a jumper at 2:01.

 

DeRozan missed a pair of free throws with 1:22 remaining but Valanciunas grabbed the rebound on the second and tipped it home to give Toronto an 82-80 lead. After a missed shot by Wade, Lowry hit a pull-up jumper with 45 seconds left, giving the Raptors a four-point cushion.

 

Wade cut it to one with a 3-pointer but Lowry replied with another jumper with 14.9 seconds to go, putting Toronto up 86-83. After a Miami timeout, Dragic tied it with a 3 with 10.5 seconds left.

 

Lowry, whose half-court shot sent Game 1 to overtime, got the last attempt for the Raptors but couldn't hit the rim with a long 3-point attempt.

 

The Heat went cold in overtime, missing their first five field goal attempts, including three misses by Johnson. DeRozan and Valanciunas connected and Carroll made a pair at the line before Miami's first basket of overtime, a driving dunk by Deng with 23 seconds left.

 

Miami matched a franchise postseason record with 11 turnovers in the first quarter, leading to 14 Toronto points.