Dynamic duo has Raptors rejoicing

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry went from invisible to indispensable for the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

DeRozan matched a playoff high with 34 points and Lowry had 25 as the Raptors beat the Miami Heat 99-91 to take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

"We have faith in those guys, they've carried us the entire season," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "Not one time did we doubt their ability to score."

Bismack Biyombo had 10 points for the Raptors, who never trailed. Toronto can clinch its first appearance in the conference final with a win in Game 6 in Miami on Friday.

Lowry and DeRozan made six of 28 shot attempts and scored 19 total points as Toronto lost 94-87 in overtime in Game 4.

In Game 5, Toronto's All-Star tandem tallied 19 points in the first quarter alone. They shot 20 for 47 overall and scored 59 points, their highest total this postseason, even with DeRozan battling a bad thumb that took another hard hit in the second half.

"We just tried to go out there and be aggressive," DeRozan said.

"We've been aggressive these past two series and shots just weren't dropping for us. We just told ourselves we were going to continue to be aggressive and it was going to come back around."

It was DeRozan's franchise-best 13th 20-point game in the playoffs and his sixth this postseason.

"He got to the free-throw line and got in a rhythm early," Miami's Dwyane Wade said. "He was locked in all night."

Wade scored 20 for Miami. Goran Dragic and Josh Richardson each had 13.

Toronto led by 20 in the first half and by 13 to start the fourth quarter before its lead shrunk to 88-87 when Wade made a pair of free throws with 1:54 left.

"That's when I thought 'OK, this is our time to make that move'," Wade said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't."

DeRozan made a pair of free throws and, after a Miami turnover, Lowry drained a long 3-pointer to put Toronto up 93-87 with 52 seconds left.

"I missed four or five easy shots throughout the fourth quarter," Lowry said. "I got an opportunity to make up for it."

DeRozan sealed it by going 4 for 4 on his free throws in the final 21 seconds. He finished 11 for 11 at the line.

DeRozan jammed his sore right thumb while fouling Miami's Tyler Johnson with 8:19 remaining in the fourth.

"It felt like a blowtorch on my hand," said DeRozan, who headed to the locker room for treatment but returned four minutes later.

Said Casey: "We didn't know if we were going to get him back. Luckily he fought through it and came back and knocked down some big free throws."