CASPER
New member
TORONTO – The Miami Heat banded together to get Chris Bosh a win against his former team.
Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, LeBron James had 23 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists and the Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 103-95 Wednesday night.
Bosh finished with 25 points and the Heat went into the All-Star break having won 10 of 11.
"I know firsthand how important it is to finish strong going into the break," James said. "You feel good about All-Star weekend, you walk around feeling good."
Before arriving in Toronto, the Heat had talked about winning this one for Bosh. That sentiment was reinforced by a handwritten note on the pregame scouting board that read "Band of Brothers."
"We wanted to be there for him as a brother and a teammate," James said.
Andrea Bargnani scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and DeMar DeRozan finished with 24 but no other Raptor had more than eight points. Toronto never led after the first six minutes and lost their 17th game in 19.
"We tried different guys in there, even tried going big to see if we could get one more scorer in there, or at least get rebounds if we weren't going to get that scorer," Raptors coach Jay Triano said.
Miami took an 88-79 lead on Wade's 3-point play with 6:37 left. Bargnani made a free throw on a 3-second call, then he and DeRozan hit back-to-back jumpers as the Raptors cut it to 88-84 with 5:48 remaining.
James made 5 of 6 from the line over the next two minutes, giving the Heat a 93-87 lead with 3:53 to go.
After Bosh made 1 of 2 from the line, missing for the first time after hitting his first nine, Bargnani answered with a 3, making it 94-90 with 2:43 remaining.
James made another free throw and, after DeRozan missed a reverse layup, Erick Dampier tipped in Wade's miss, giving Miami a 97-90 lead with 1:50 left.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his team "did just enough."
"We're all happy for Chris," Spoelstra said. "It was not our best game but guys definitely wanted to band together and win it for him."
Even though the Heat are on a roll, Spoelstra is happy to give his team some downtime.
"We all could probably use this All-Star break right now, get a little bit of rest and get away and then make this final push in the final third of the season to really take another step forward as a team and try to find our ceiling," he said.
Returning to Toronto for the first time since joining James and Wade in Miami after seven seasons with the Raptors, Bosh was booed from the moment he took the floor for pre-game warmups, even when he was shown on the video screen during the American national anthem. Fans also booed when the camera panned to James.
"That's sports today," Spoelstra said. "I don't think anything is off limits anymore."
Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, LeBron James had 23 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists and the Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 103-95 Wednesday night.
Bosh finished with 25 points and the Heat went into the All-Star break having won 10 of 11.
"I know firsthand how important it is to finish strong going into the break," James said. "You feel good about All-Star weekend, you walk around feeling good."
Before arriving in Toronto, the Heat had talked about winning this one for Bosh. That sentiment was reinforced by a handwritten note on the pregame scouting board that read "Band of Brothers."
"We wanted to be there for him as a brother and a teammate," James said.
Andrea Bargnani scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter and DeMar DeRozan finished with 24 but no other Raptor had more than eight points. Toronto never led after the first six minutes and lost their 17th game in 19.
"We tried different guys in there, even tried going big to see if we could get one more scorer in there, or at least get rebounds if we weren't going to get that scorer," Raptors coach Jay Triano said.
Miami took an 88-79 lead on Wade's 3-point play with 6:37 left. Bargnani made a free throw on a 3-second call, then he and DeRozan hit back-to-back jumpers as the Raptors cut it to 88-84 with 5:48 remaining.
James made 5 of 6 from the line over the next two minutes, giving the Heat a 93-87 lead with 3:53 to go.
After Bosh made 1 of 2 from the line, missing for the first time after hitting his first nine, Bargnani answered with a 3, making it 94-90 with 2:43 remaining.
James made another free throw and, after DeRozan missed a reverse layup, Erick Dampier tipped in Wade's miss, giving Miami a 97-90 lead with 1:50 left.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said his team "did just enough."
"We're all happy for Chris," Spoelstra said. "It was not our best game but guys definitely wanted to band together and win it for him."
Even though the Heat are on a roll, Spoelstra is happy to give his team some downtime.
"We all could probably use this All-Star break right now, get a little bit of rest and get away and then make this final push in the final third of the season to really take another step forward as a team and try to find our ceiling," he said.
Returning to Toronto for the first time since joining James and Wade in Miami after seven seasons with the Raptors, Bosh was booed from the moment he took the floor for pre-game warmups, even when he was shown on the video screen during the American national anthem. Fans also booed when the camera panned to James.
"That's sports today," Spoelstra said. "I don't think anything is off limits anymore."