DeMar DeRozan #10 of the Toronto Raptors and Kyle Lowry #7 talk during a fourth quarter timeout. Rob Carr/Getty Images/AFP
DeMar DeRozan’s 34 points in Toronto’s 96-87 NBA victory over the Miami Heat on Friday moved the Raptors guard into rare territory.
According to the Elias sports bureau, DeRozan is the first player since league icon Michael Jordan to score 30 or more points in the first five games of a season. Jordan accomplished the feat from November 1-11 of 1986 en route to a six-game streak of 30-point games.
“He’s been great, he’s been a great leader and his approach has been very professional,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of DeRozan, whose fifth straight game of 30 or more points is a Raptors record.
He hit the 30-point mark with a jump shot with 2:31 to play. He added a floating jumper with 1:53 remaining and made two free throws with 24.3 seconds left to help seal the game.
Casey said that he wouldn’t have minded seeing DeRozan take even more shots.
“He came out, and I don’t ever say this, overpassed,” Casey said. “He tried to make some plays that weren’t there instead of doing what he does and let the game dictate some of those shots.”
DeRozan admitted it wasn’t a perfect night.
“There were a couple of shots that I passed up,” he said. “I think I had four turnovers, quick ones, but just go up and shoot it and make a decision from there.”
DeRozan’s efforts helped the Raptors overcome a 12-point led in the first quarter.
“He’s a handful,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Because he can create offense in the flow of what they’re trying to do, but he can also generate offense when he’s getting specific play calls and then he can create something out of nothing at the end of the clock.
“So we tried to give him some different looks. We really wanted to try to take the ball out of his hands a couple of times, but we weren’t able to do it.”