NBA: Precious Achiuwa grabs 22 boards as Raptors defeat Heat
FILE–Precious Achiuwa #5 of the Toronto Raptors dunks as Scottie Barnes #4 celebrates. Cole Burston/Getty Images/AFP
Precious Achiuwa came off the bench to snatch a career-high 22 rebounds against his former team as the Toronto Raptors defeated the host Miami Heat 98-90 on Monday night.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with a game-high 26 points, but he didn’t take a fourth-quarter shot until there was less than one minute left. Tyler Herro added 22 points and 15 rebounds for Miami.
Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, held to seven points in a foul-plagued effort on Saturday night as Miami beat Toronto, was much better in the rematch. He finished with 24 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
Toronto’s Pascal Siakam had 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Gary Trent Jr. added 18 points for the Raptors, including a big 3-pointer in the final minute.
The Raptors were without starting wing Scottie Barnes, who sprained his right ankle against Miami on Saturday.
But Toronto’s Chris Boucher, who had been out due to a hamstring injury, made his season debut and scored 10 points in just 12 minutes.
Precious Achiuwa to @SavHamilton11 on playing his former team in Miami:
"I'm down to beat this team any day. That excites me more than anything." pic.twitter.com/jJVxiSAXpr
— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) October 25, 2022
Miami was without Caleb Martin, who was suspended for one game. It was determined he started a fight against Toronto’s Christian Koloko on Saturday. Koloko was fined but not suspended.
Toronto got off to a hot start, using a 10-0 run to take a 22-15 first-quarter lead, and the Raptors were up by four after the period. Toronto shot 52.4 percent from the floor, and the Raptors had an 18-8 edge in points in the paint. Herro led all first-quarter scorers with 10 points.
The Raptors led by as many as 11 points and settled for a 48-43 advantage at halftime. Miami shot just 4-for-18 on 3-point attempts in the first half, and Toronto was plus-9 on rebounds.
Miami used an 11-0 run to take a 59-56 third-quarter lead. By the end of the quarter, the Heat led 76-71. Butler scored 12 points in the period to lead Miami.
Toronto went on an 18-4 run to take a 91-85 lead with 2:44 left in the fourth quarter, and Miami never recovered.
For the game, Toronto made 14 of 32 shots from 3-point range (43.8 percent). Miami made 8 of 34 from deep (23.5 percent).
