
TORONTO — Kyle Lowry scored 35 points and added nine assists and seven rebounds as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Miami Heat 116-89 Sunday afternoon in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
DeMar DeRozan added 28 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who will advance to the conference final against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The series opens Tuesday in Cleveland.
The Raptors led most of the way. They took a 16-point lead during the third quarter and were up by eight entering the fourth quarter and soon had the lead at 20.
Lowry’s 3-pointer with 3:24 left made the lead 25 points.
DeMarre Carroll added 14 points for Toronto, Bismack Biyombo scored 17 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Patrick Patterson had 11 points and 11 rebounds
Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 16 points each. Justise Winslow added 14 points, Joe Johnson had 13, Luol Deng scored 12 and Josh McRoberts had 10.
The Raptors led by as many as five points in the first quarter and were ahead 25-24 entering the second quarter. DeRozan had 11 first-quarter points and Wade had two points and two personal fouls that limited him to 6:38 of playing time in the first quarter. Deng led Miami with eight first-quarter points.
Miami took a 37-36 lead with 5:35 left in the first half when Johnson completed his run of six straight points with a driving hook shot.
The Raptors went on a 10-2 surge completed by Patterson’s putback layup and free throw to lead 46-39 with 3:16 to play in the half. The Raptors led 53-47 at the intermission with Lowry scoring 16 points and DeRozan with 15. Wade and Dragic led Miami with 10 points each.
The Raptors led by nine with 8:46 to play in the third quarter after DeRozan made a jumper and Lowry put in a layup. The lead reached 11 on Carroll’s 3-poiner. Consecutive layups by Biyombo and Lowry put the Raptors into a 16-point lead with 5:51 to play in the third quarter.
The Heat whittled the lead to six on Tyler Johnson’s 3-pointer before the Raptors took an 86-78 lead into the fourth quarter.
Carroll hit a 3-pointer with 10:16 to play and the Raptors led by 13 points. A 3-pointer by Terrence Ross bumped the lead to 16.
Patterson hit two free throws with 7:30 to play and the lead increased to 20 points.
The Heat cut four points off the lead before Toronto got the lead up to 22 points on a jumper by DeRozan with 3:57 to play and Lowry followed with the 3-pointer for a 25-point lead.
NOTES: Heat C Hassan Whiteside (sprained right MCL) made the trip to Toronto with the team but did not play Sunday. … Raptors C Jonas Valanciunas (sprained right ankle) also did not play. … Each team played a Game 7 for the second series in a row. The Heat defeated the Charlotte Hornets and the Raptors defeated the Indians Pacers in Game 7 of their respective first-round playoff series. … Three games of the series went to overtime. The most overtime games in a best-of-seven series is four — Oklahoma City Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies in 2013 and Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls in 2008.