NBA: Raptors win thriller in triple OT over Heat
Scottie Barnes #4, Khem Birch #24, and OG Anunoby #3 of the Toronto Raptors celebrate against the New York Knicks during the second half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on January 2, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mark Blinch/Getty Images/AFP
Fred VanVleet’s 3-pointer with 2:17 to play in the third overtime period gave the visiting Toronto Raptors a five-point lead, and they held on to defeat the Miami Heat 124-120 Saturday night.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 33 points for the Raptors, who have split the first two games of a three-game road trip.
Jimmy Butler had 37 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for the Heat, who had a three-game winning streak end.
Scottie Barnes finished with 22 points and nine rebounds for Toronto. Pascal Siakam added 21 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, four steals and four blocked shots; OG Anunoby had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and VanVleet scored 19 points and added eight assists.
The @MiamiHEAT & @Raptors battled it out for 4 quarters plus 3 OT periods in a back and forth THRILLER!@JimmyButler: 37 PTS, 14 REB, 10 AST, 3 STL, 2 BLK@gtrentjr: 33 PTS, 5 REB, 5 STL, 5 3PM pic.twitter.com/kQVFk3JVyU
— NBA (@NBA) January 30, 2022
Gabe Vincent scored 17 points for Miami, Bam Adebayo had 14 points and 16 rebounds, Tyler Herro had 13 points, and Caleb Martin, P.J. Tucker and Max Strus scored 11 points apiece.
After Tucker hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 51.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter for Miami, Barnes tied the game at 100 with two free throws with 2.9 seconds left to force overtime.
Vincent’s 3-pointer gave Miami a 105-103 lead with 1:13 left in the first overtime. Trent tied the game on two free throws with 16.8 seconds remaining.
Vincent opened the second overtime with another 3-pointer. Anunoby’s jumper cut the lead to one with 2:05 left.
VanVleet hit a trey to give Toronto a 114-112 lead with 42.7 seconds to go, and Herro’s layup tied it at 114-114 with 26.6 seconds to play in the second overtime.
Toronto took a 119-117 lead on Anunoby’s dunk with 3:05 left in the third overtime, and VanVleet followed with his 3-pointer. Vincent cut the lead back to two with a 3-pointer, but Siakam made two free throws with 9.8 seconds left.
Toronto led by as many as 16 points during the third quarter and took a 10-point lead into the fourth.
Miami opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, which included two 3-pointers by Strus.
Toronto opened a seven-point lead with 7:03 to go in the fourth quarter on Anunoby’s 15-footer. The Heat answered with a 9-2 surge to tie the game with 4:24 remaining.
Miami finished the first half on an 8-2 run, cutting Toronto’s lead to 59-53. Toronto led 85-75 after three quarters.
