The Toronto Raptors defeated the Miami Heat 101 - 84 Thursday at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Heat (35 - 37) got off to a strong start on both sides of the ball, as they opened up a 10 - point lead in the first quarter. From that point, however, it was all Raptors (43 - 29). Over the course of the next three quarters, Toronto outscored Miami by 27 points thanks in large part to the tremendous play of All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who scored a game - high 40 points on 14 - of - 25 shooting from the field. DeRozan was the only starter to score in double figures for the Raptors, but the team's bench managed to come up with an important 36 points, led by 14 points from Norman Powell and 13 from Delon Wright. As for the Heat, six different players managed to score in double figures, but they failed to get a standout performance to counter that of DeRozan's in some way. Hassan Whiteside ended up leading the way with a team - high 16 points and 14 rebounds, but no other Miami player scored more than 13 points. The poor offensive play was contagious across the board, as the team shot just 39 percent from the field and 26 percent from behind the arc in Thursday's contest. It was a crucial loss for the Heat, as they now hold just a one - game advantage over both the Bulls and Pistons for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
["PlayerStat(G,'DeMar DeRozan') has 3 Assists ,has 25 Field goals attempted ,has 14 Field goals made ,has 13 Free throws attempted ,has 40 Points ,has 6 Total rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Norman Powell') has 14 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Delon Wright') has 13 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Hassan Whiteside') has 16 Assists ,has 14 Field goals attempted ."]