Scottie Barnes scored 25 points and Brandon Ingram added 23, leading the Toronto Raptors to a 121-95 victory over the visiting Miami Heat on Tuesday.
Jakob Poeltl had 17 points while RJ Barrett chipped in 16 for the Raptors (44-35), who pulled within a game of the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference standings. Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 11 points off the bench for Toronto, which had dropped three of its previous four games.
Miami (41-38) was paced by Andrew Wiggins’ 24 points, followed by Tyler Herro and Norman Powell scoring 14 points apiece. The Heat shot just 27.3% (12 of 44) on 3-point attempts, dropping their ninth game in 12 tries.
Toronto pushed its 13-point halftime lead to 84-66 after Barrett’s layup stamped a 7-0 spurt.
Powell scored five in a row to pull the Heat within 13, but Barnes’ triple and subsequent dunk closed the third and gave the Raptors a 94-76 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Toronto took its first 20-point edge on Poeltl’s layup with 10:49 remaining, extending the lead to 97-76. Ja’Kobe Walter sank his third 3-pointer of the night at the 6:06 mark, extending the lopsided score to 109-85.
The Raptors deployed their bench with less than three minutes left, with a few baskets from reserve Jamison Battle punctuating the win.
Toronto made five 3-pointers in the opening quarter and took a 32-27 lead into the second. A pair of Bam Adebayo free throws gave Miami a two-point edge before Barrett’s three-point play punctuated a 12-2 run to give the Raptors a 46-38 lead.
Ingram and Barrett’s back-to-back makes put the Raptors ahead 53-40, forcing a Miami timeout with 4:58 remaining in the first half.
Barnes’ three-point play and Ingram’s dunk pushed Toronto’s advantage to 64-47 before Miami scored the last four points of the first half to cut its deficit to 13. Ingram had a game-high 15 first-half points, while Wiggins’ 11 paced the Heat.
