MIAMI — Danny Green slipped to the right corner, somehow forgotten by the Miami Heat.
He made them pay.
Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points, Green’s 3-pointer with 22.7 seconds left — a wide-open one — became the gamewinner, and the Toronto Raptors improved the NBA’s best record to 26-10 by topping the Heat 106-104 on Wednesday night.
Toronto has now won three games this season when trailing by 17 points.
“We’ve always got a chance to come back,” Fred VanVleet said.
Green had 18 points and VanVleet added 16 for the Raptors, who survived a wild fourth quarter that saw 12 lead changes and four ties. Miami had three shots on the game’s final possession, with Dwyane Wade and Justise Winslow missing 3s and Wade having a chance at a tip-in that wouldn’t fall.
Wade blamed himself for Green being so open, acknowledging that he blew the coverage.
“I’m not mad at the loss. I’m mad at the way I played,” Wade said. “You’re going to lose games in this league. That’s fine. We’ve been playing good basketball and we played some good basketball today. … Losses are going to happen. It’s the way you bounce back from them and the last few times we’ve had losses we’ve bounced back pretty well.”
Winslow scored 21 points for Miami, which saw its five-game winning streak snapped. Josh Richardson scored 17 and Hassan Whiteside scored 16 for Miami, which was 6 for 12 from the foul line — while Toronto was 19 for 23.
James Johnson and Tyler Johnson each scored 12 for the Heat, while Wade had 10. Pascal Siakam added 10 for the Raptors.
Winslow’s layup with 35.2 seconds left put Miami up by one, and on the next Toronto possession Green found himself wide-open in the right corner — nearly the identical spot from where Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer to deny Green and Leonard the 2013 NBA title when they were with San Antonio.
Green connected, the Raptors got the game’s last stop and escaped to move to 7-0 against the Southeast Division this season.
“Gutsy win by us at the end,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.