National Basketball Association

Heat Check: Dwyane Wade sparks continued dominance of Raptors

Published Nov. 2, 2014 9:30 p.m. ET

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MIAMI -- The Miami Heat continued their hot start with a third consecutive win to open the season by defeating the visiting Toronto Raptors 107-102 Sunday night.

Featuring a balanced attack with five players in double figures and stingy team defense, the Heat increased their early lead to double digits by the end of the first half and never looked back. The Raptors were unable to put together a run of any significance and only led once, three minutes into the game.

Chris Bosh once again paced the Heat with 21 points and 11 rebounds to continue his strong start. But the engine that powered the victory was Dwyane Wade, who nearly had a triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. He also had two blocks on Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas.

Toronto never got it going on either side of the floor -- apart from DeMar DeRozan, who led all scorers with 30 points -- until late in the game, when they cut the Heat's lead to four with less then a minute remaining. They were outrebounded 43 to 28 and had just 11 assists for the game compared with 22 for the Heat.

With the victory, the Heat are now the only Eastern Conference team that remains undefeated.

THE TURNING POINT

After failing to make any significant run to put a dent in the Heat's lead throughout the game, the Raptors came back to cut it to six points midway through the fourth quarter. However, they gave up three offensive rebounds in one possession, including two courtesy of Wade, to allow Chalmers to score two points from the free-throw line. On the next Heat possession, forward Shawne Williams secured the rebound off of Mario Chalmers' missed 3-pointer and scored easily at the rim.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER

Wade made an immediate early impact with two points, four rebounds, three assists and one block in the first five minutes of the game. In one sequence, he blocked Valanciunas' shot near the rim, secured the offensive rebound on the other side of the court and notched an assist for a Shawne Williams 3-pointer.

STAT OF THE GAME

The Raptors were able to pound the Heat inside the paint through the first two quarters and earn plenty of free throws, but they couldn't capitalize. They were a pitiful 56 percent from the line in the first half and missed 11 out of 25 free throws attempts.

By contrast, the Heat didn't miss their first free throw until there were seconds left in the first half, finishing 14 of 15 from the charity stripe and entered halftime up by 10 points. They did, however, miss nine free throws in the second half.

Toronto continued to shoot poorly from the charity stripe for the rest of the game, finishing 24 of 39. Kyle Lowry had a chance to cut the Heat lead to five points with less than two minutes remaining in the game but could only convert one of three free throws.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Houston Rockets return to the AmericanAirlines Arena after losing to the Heat in the preseason for a rematch on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

You can follow Surya Fernandez on Twitter @SuryaHeatNBA or email him at SuryaFoxSports@gmail.com.