猛龙过江遇热火,谁拿下第一场谁抢7会师詹皇。今年东部四强无悬念会合第二轮,貌似预示1,2东决?
本场看点及花絮:
THE SERIES: Miami leads the all-time series between the clubs, 49-26. But Toronto has won five of the last six meetings, holding Miami to 47 percent shooting or less in each of those games. It's the first playoff matchup between the Heat and Raptors.
OH, BROTHER: Dorell Wright and Delon Wright faced off countless times in their lives, but never on the same NBA floor. That might change in this series. Dorell Wright rejoined the Heat as the regular season was ending, younger brother Delon Wright is a rookie with the Raptors. Dorell Wright wrote his brother a letter published by The Players' Tribune as this season started, telling Delon that Toronto stars like Kyle Lowry and DeRozan - his close friends for some time - would have his back. "They reached out to me and let me know you're in great hands," Dorell Wright wrote at the time, when he was playing in China. "Do what they say. Follow their lead."
BENCH MATCHUP: Miami's backups got outscored 32-23, on average, by Charlotte's reserves in that series. Toronto could be an issue for the Heat in that department as well; the Raptors outscored Indiana's bench 34-27 on average in their matchup.
WADE WATCH: Wade comes into this series 17th on the NBA's all-time playoff scoring list, at 3,614 points - having just passed Wilt Chamberlain. He should climb a few more spots in this matchup. He's 10 points away from passing Elgin Baylor, 29 from passing Scottie Pippen, 50 from passing Dirk Nowitzki and 88 from passing Magic Johnson. All this comes after a season where he went from 54th to 39th on the regular-season list. "Dwyane Wade is back to being a young Dwyane Wade. He is a handful," Casey said.
COOL JOE: Heat forward Joe Johnson was a matchup nightmare for Toronto in the playoffs two years ago when Brooklyn ousted the Nets in the first round, winning Game 7 on the Raptors' home floor. Johnson averaged 21.9 points in that 2014 series, and scored 50 points in his two games at Toronto this season (one with Brooklyn, the other with Miami).
EASY AS 1-2-3-4: This is the first time since 2010 that the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference made the second round. No. 1 Cleveland is taking on No. 4 Atlanta in the other East semi series, opposite Toronto-Miami.