TORONTO, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) — The Miami Heat battled the Toronto Raptors to a 90-83 victory on Friday night to extend their win streak to nine games in NBA action.
With the victory, Miami improves to 13-3 on the season, second-best in the Eastern conference behind only the 15-1 Indiana Pacers.
Miami controlled the tempo for the first two quarters and a half, going out to a 20-point lead. By the 4:03 mark of the fourth quarter, Toronto erased the deficit to two points.
“We became frustrated and more focused on a lot of things we couldn’t control in the game,” said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. “We didn’t get a couple of key stops and the ball stopped.”
Entering the game, the Heat had dominated during their streak, outscoring their opponents by 14.6 points and averaging 106.5 points per game. The Raptors held Miami to a season-low 90 points and lost by a 7-point deficit.
While Spoelstra credits the Raptors for their effort, he believes that part of the collapse in the third quarter was due to the team’s lack of intensity with a big lead.
“Clearly we’re a different team once we’re up 20. That’s something we constantly have to work at, stay on edge,” said Spoelstra. “Most of it is mental, and most of it is with us and that’s a challenge.”
All-star forward Lebron James agrees with his coach’s analysis but enjoys playing in close games as opposed to blowouts games where the starters do not see any action in the fourth quarter.
“These games are fun. I love the rest, but I hate sitting in the fourth quarter,” said James. “You got to have these type of games throughout the course of the season; games that challenge you. To see how you can execute, to see who will show up at the end of the game.”
Lebron executed in the final four minutes of the game, outscoring the entire Raptors’ team 7-2, pushing the 83-81 Miami lead to the 90-83 final score.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-11/30/c_132930815.htm
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