Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 36 points and had a big deflection in the dying seconds to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 107-103 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.
Pascal Siakam had 22 points, while Serge Ibaka had 15 and Kyle Lowry chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds as the Raptors (48-18) stretched their win streak to six games, and improved to 2-0 in the NBA's restart after the COVID-19 hiatus.
Goran Dragic had 25 points to top the Heat (42-25). Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., had 17 points, two nights after a big game against Denver that saw him score 20 points in the fourth quarter of a 125-105 win. Jimmy Butler, who'd missed Sunday's practice sparking speculation he was in quarantine, had 16.
The Raptors, who were slotted into Monday's matinee spot because of the holiday in most of Canada, led for most of the afternoon and broke the game open with a 20-7 third-quarter run that put them up by 17 points. But Miami sliced the difference to 84-79 with one quarter to play.
Olynyk's three-pointer midway through the fourth put Miami up by three, but Siakam's three-pointer sparked a mini Raptors run and when Lowry dished off a short pass to Ibaka for a dunk, Toronto was back up by six with 6:11 to play.
Tyler Herro's driving layup got Miami back within two. Free throws from Lowry and VanVleet had Toronto up by six, but a big Jae Crowder three-pointer and Dragic layup made it a one-point game with 41 seconds to play.
with files from (The Canadian Press)