Brandon Ingram scored a season-high 38 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 128-114 victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday, moving Toronto closer to securing a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
Ingram also contributed seven rebounds and seven assists as the Raptors (45-35) completed a sweep of their back-to-back series with Miami. With this win, Toronto is now tied for fifth place in the Eastern Conference alongside the idle Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n
A win against the New York Knicks on Friday or the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday will clinch the Raptors\u2019 first playoff berth in four years.<\/p>\n
RJ Barrett, from Mississauga, Ontario, added 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists to Toronto\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
For Miami (41-39), Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell each recorded a double-double. Adebayo finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists, while Mitchell chipped in 15 points and 11 assists.<\/p>\n
The Heat had already secured a spot in the play-in tournament but were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs following Tuesday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n
Miami struggled to bounce back from a 121-95 defeat to Toronto two days earlier, which head coach Erik Spoelstra described as “embarrassing.” The Heat were outrebounded 40-34 and committed 15 turnovers that resulted in 24 Toronto points.<\/p>\n
Toronto All-Star Scottie Barnes faced early foul trouble, but Ingram responded with an aggressive performance in the first half. His scoring threat forced Miami to double- or triple-team him, opening up offensive chances for his teammates. Ingram scored 10 points in the first quarter and 13 in the second.<\/p>\n
A defining moment came when Ingram made two free throws with 1:58 left in the first half, capping a 14-1 Raptors run and extending their lead to 19 points.<\/p>\n
Toronto was highly efficient with the ball, committing only one turnover in the first half and just six in total.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, the Raptors will visit the New York Knicks on Friday, while Miami heads to Washington to face the Wizards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brandon Ingram scored a season-high 38 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 128-114 victory over the Miami Heat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","description":"","custom_seo_keywords":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n