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LeBron has big night, Heat hold off Raptors

Nov 30, 2013 - 3:45 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - LeBron James scored a game-high 27 points with six rebounds and Dwayne Wade added 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Miami Heat staved off a Toronto comeback attempt to defeat the Raptors, 90-83.

DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 25 points, while Rudy Gay chipped in 21 points and 11 rebounds and Kyle Lowry netted 15 points with six assists.

James went flying in for an uncontested slam to give the Heat a 74-54 lead with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter, but the Raptors proceeded to end the period on a 16-4 run which cut the deficit to eight.

Miami missed 4-of-5 shots after James' dunk and committed three turnovers in the final five minutes which sparked the Toronto spurt.

The Raptors pulled to within two with 4:40 left after a layup from Gay cut the lead to 83-81, but went 2-for-10 from the free throw line in the stanza and James iced it for Miami with two buckets late.

"Free throws, that was the story," said Raptors forward Tyler Hansbrough. "We have to do a better job, myself included."

Toronto went 2-of-6 from the line in the final 1:37, with Hansbrough making 2-of-4 attempts and Gay missing a pair.

The Heat have now won 13 straight games against Toronto and nine in a row overall.

The Toronto deficit remained at eight early in the fourth quarter before Lowry buried a trey with 8:03 left.

After Miami's Chris Andersen hit 1-of-2 from the line and then made a layup on the following possession, Lowry streaked through the lane to convert a layup. The point guard found DeRozan on Toronto's next trip down for a fadeaway pullup that cut the deficit to 83-79 with 5:24 to play.

Gay blocked Chris Bosh out of a timeout and DeRozan was fouled on a dunk attempt. He missed both free throws, but Gay picked up the offensive rebound and put it in to pull the Raptors within two.

James answered with a 3-pointer at the other end to push the lead to 86-81 with 4:22 left. After three minutes of scoreless basketball, he galloped into the lane and muscled in a layup to seal it for Miami.

"We started the second half like we weren't ourselves," said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra. "I don't want to take anything away from Toronto, but we came out flat."

A Quincy Acy dunk cut the Toronto deficit to 50-41 late in the second quarter, but Michael Beasley made a jumper on the following possession and Ray Allen followed with a layup before a 3-pointer from Beasley gave Miami a 57-41 lead with 26.5 seconds left.

Hansbrough added two free throws in the closing seconds to make it a 14-point differential at the break.

Game Notes

This was the second of four meetings between the two teams this season, with Miami winning 104-95 in Toronto on Nov. 5 ... The Raptors shot 19-of-32 (59.4 percent) overall from the free throw line ... Toronto outrebounded Miami by a 43-36 margin ... Toronto plays Denver at home on Sunday ... Miami returns to South Beach for a matchup against Charlotte on Sunday.