Big 3 lead Heat to victory over Raptors

TORONTO, March 30 (Xinhua) — Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James combined to score 86 points for the Miami Heat in a 113-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

The victory was the Heat’s second victory in as many nights, after defeating the Dallas Mavericks at home the night prior.

“We weren’t going to lose this game we had to dig deep down and just continue to play. I thought we did a great job, after getting in real late, starting the game with energy, trying to get ourselves going. It was a fight,” said Heat guard Dwayne Wade following the game.

With the score tied at 83 after three quarters, Wade stepped up in the final frame, scoring 13 of his game-high 30 points in the victory. Wade also added 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

The victory also marked forward Chris Bosh’s second time back to Toronto, the team that drafted him fourth overall in the 2003 draft. Bosh did not disappoint the capacity crowd at the Air Canada Center, scoring a game-high 30 points while adding 8 rebounds.

Bosh was excited to be back to the city he called home for his first seven seasons in the NBA.

“I’ve played 100 billion games here and have a lot of great memories here. Anytime I come here, I don’t want to disappoint myself and have a bad game… Friday night in Toronto, I remember that. A very competitive game, a good atmosphere,” said Bosh.

Heat forward Lebron James was satisfied with the victory given the circumstances created from the condensed schedule.

“We didn’ t get in until 4:30 last night coming all the way from Miami after a tough win against Dallas. To be able to come here and play against a team that we know will be energized and the building was going to be packed from wall to wall and to come in and get a win is great,” said James, who added 26 points of his own in the contest.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was also satisfied with the effort and now prepares for their next game against the Celtics.

“We weren’t necessarily quite as disciplined as we needed to be defensively, our mentality and mindset was good,” said Spoelstra. “I am very encouraged with our no excuses attitude coming into this one particularly here on the road to bring that mindset. Now we move on to the next city and it has to continue with that mentality against a very tough team at home.”

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