Raptors continue game one struggles, fall to Heat in OT

Toronto Raptors lost their seventh consecutive game to open a playoff series in the team's 102-96 loss over Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series on Tuesday evening.

With the loss, Toronto falls to 1-9 all-time in games to begin a playoff series. Their only Game 1 victory took place on May 6, 2001 in the 2001 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series against Philadelphia Sixers.

"Someone said that before the game," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey acknowledged the team's poor record to being a series in the post-game press conference in Toronto. "Game one you got to be on point. You can't have the mistakes that we made."

Toronto was out rebounded 52-41 on the boards, including 11-4 on the offensive glass. Miami also outscored them 13-4 in second points.

Despite the deficiencies and trailing by as many as 10 points in fourth quarter, Raptors managed to pull off a miraculous comeback in the final seconds of the game.

Down 89-83 with under seven seconds remaining in regulation, Raptors tied the game at 90 after a mid-court heave at the buzzer by guard Kyle Lowry forced overtime.

That would end up being Lowry's only three-pointer of the game, as he shot 3-13 from the field and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc.

During the extra frame, Miami scored the first 8 points to secure the six-point victory.

"We'll make some adjustments, I like our battle," said Casey. "We just need to clean up some situations that we created on ourselves to make sure that we take advantage of the next game."

The next game will take place on Thursday as the two teams continue their series in Toronto.

History is on Raptors' side when it comes to game twos. Toronto holds a 4-5 postseason record in the second game of a series.

Toronto holds a record 4-5 in game threes, 3-5 in game fours, 4-3 in game fives, 1-3 in game sixes and 1-2 in game sevens. Endit