MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade took a moment before tipoff Sunday to reflect on all that his Miami Heat endured this season.
They lost Chris Bosh at the All-Star break to a blood clot for a second consecutive year, forcing them to significantly change their style of play. They handled injuries, saw assistant coach Keith Smart deal with cancer treatment that took him away from the team and reshaped their roster in free-agent deals and trades.
In that moment, Wade realized how it all made his team stronger.
“I’m not a prophet or anything,” Wade said, “but I knew we were winning this game.”
How right he was. Goran Dragic scored 25 points in his first Game 7, Gerald Green added 16 and the Heat ousted the Charlotte Hornets with an emphatic 106-73 victory.
Miami won two elimination games to take the series 4-3, and will open the Eastern Conference semifinals at Toronto on Tuesday night. The Raptors beat visiting Indiana 89-84 in Game 7 on Sunday night.
“Just great competition,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, lauding the Hornets. “Our hats go off to them. They made us better. … I think our basketball team needed to go through that, to be pushed and find a different level which we showed in the last two games.”
Luol Deng scored 15 points, Wade finished with 12, and Hassan Whiteside had a 10-point, 12-rebound, five-block clincher for the Heat, who have won their last four Game 7s.
Frank Kaminsky scored 12 points for Charlotte, which got 11 from Courtney Lee and 10 from Nic Batum. The Hornets’ two biggest stars, Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson, never got going — combining for 13 points.
“I thought we had a great season,” said Walker, who shot 3 for 16. “We were really resilient. We had a lot of injuries but we stuck together all year. When guys’ names got called to make plays and step up, they did. A lot of people didn’t even think we’d be here.”
A contentious series, with too much attention getting placed on courtside fan behavior and NBA officiating reports, pushed Miami to the limit. Charlotte had a chance to close out the Heat on its home floor in Game 6, wasting the opportunity.
The Hornets never had a chance in Game 7.
Miami led the whole way, taking a 12-point lead at the half and stretching it to 24 by the midpoint of the third quarter — the period that has been a problem for the Heat all season but became the catalyst to what became a rout on Sunday. And with that, it was obvious that Charlotte’s season was going to be bookended.
RAPTORS 89, PACERS 84
TORONTO (AP) – DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 15 rebounds and 10 points and Toronto beat Indiana in Game 7 of the first-round series.
Rookie Norman Powell added 13 points, Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists, and Patrick Patterson had 11 pointed to help Toronto win a seven-game series for the first time in franchise history.
The Raptors won their first postseason series since a five-game triumph over the New York Knicks in 2001, ending the NBA’s longest active drought between playoff series victories.
WARRIORS 118, TRAIL BLAZERS 106
Paul George led Indiana with 26 points and 12 rebounds, George Hill scored 19 points, and Monta Ellis had 15.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Klay Thompson scored 37 points as fellow “Splash Brother” Stephen Curry watched injured, and the Golden State Warriors again dominated without their MVP to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 118-106 on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Draymond Green had his second career postseason triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the defending champions.
With Curry sidelined because of a sprained right knee, Green and Thompson took charge again. Thompson hit seven more 3-pointers to become the first player in NBA history to make at least seven 3s in three straight playoff games.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.
Golden State reserve Anderson Varejao and Portland’s Gerald Henderson were ejected late in the third quarter after receiving their second technical fouls
Portland’s Damian Lillard had another slow start back home in the Bay Area, missing 11 of his first 13 shots before finishing with 30 points — 10 on free throws.