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Tuesday, Apr. 18 8:00pm ET
Anthony Carter matches Vince's 17 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
MIAMI (AP) -- Carter excelled as expected Tuesday night. It just wasn't the Carter who usually grabs headlines. Miami's Anthony Carter, a rookie who started only because injuries kept Tim Hardaway in street clothes, scored 17 points in helping the Miami Heat beat Toronto 97-73. The Raptors' heralded Vince Carter also had 17. "Everybody came to see him play," saidAnthony Carter, who had six assists to three for Vince Carter. "I just tried to step up and make some plays and we came up with the win." Jamal Mashburn scored 16 for Miami and Alonzo Mourning and Rodney Buford added 10 each. Mourning contributed four of Miami's 12 blocks, one coming when Miami's Carter blocked a shot by Toronto's Carter. "He was knocking down shots for us tonight," Miami coach Pat Riley said of Anthony Carter, who hit 8-of-11. "He has confidence in himself and we have confidence in him." Tracy McGrady had 15 points and Dee Brown 10 for the Raptors. Vince Carter hit just 5-of-20 shots. "We didn't match their intensity level from start to finish," Toronto's Carter said. "We had some spurts but that was it." A key to the Heat victory was their inside dominance. In addition to a 12-2 advantage in blocks, Miami outrebounded Toronto 52-38 and outscored the Raptors 42-18 inside. Hardaway missed the game due to a sprained right ankle and a sprained left foot. He will also miss the Heat's season finale Wednesday at Charlotte, and may not be ready to return when the playoffs start this weekend. Although the Heat haven't announced a timetable for Hardaway's return, Anthony Carter's post-game comments may have given a clue about the situation. "Hopefully, I can take us to the second or third round of the playoffs and Tim can come back and give us some more firepower," Carter said. Whether Miami can get that far with Carter remains to be seen. Said Toronto coach Butch Carter, "He is not Tim Hardaway, but tonight he didn't have to be." The Raptors had a moment of concern when Vince Carter left the game late in the third quarter with an injured left ankle. It turned out to be nothing more than an aggravation of a muscle sprain and Carter returned to start the final period. By then, the game was out of reach. The Heat scored nine straight points, the final seven by Mashburn, to take a 58-47 lead with 6:41 left in the third quarter. Vince Carter answered with a three-point play, but Mourning scored the next four points and Miami maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way. The Heat concluded their home schedule with a franchise-record 33-8 record. The game meant nothing in terms of playoff matchups, with Miami entering the game locked into second and Toronto in sixth in the Eastern Conference seedings. It was the 999th regular season victory for Riley. A victory in the season finale would make him the second NBA coach with 1,000 victories. Atlanta's Lenny Wilkens leads with 1,179. Miami scored the first 10 points of the game and maintained a comfortable margin until Brown had eight points during a 10-1 run that allowed Toronto to cut the lead to 25-24 with 7:10 left in the second quarter. Miami opened its advantage to nine before taking a 45-41 lead at halftime. Game notesVince Carter's grandmother, Annie Westbrook of Miami, attended the game, watching her grandson play in person for the first time. ... Tim Hardaway's absence for the final two games of the season due to injury ensures that he will receive a $1.6 million bonus. Hardaway's contract calls for the bonus if he finishes the year with an assists-to-turnover ratio of 3-to-1 or better. Hardaway's final numbers of 385 assists and 119 turnovers put him at 3.24-to-1, the best ratio of his career. ... With the game having no meaning in the playoff race, the Raptors did some pregame tinkering with their roster. They placed Muggsy Bogues and Kevin Willis on the injured list and activated Haywoode Workman and Aleksandar Radojevic, their 1999 first-round draft pick. Bogues' and Willis' injuries? "They had a bad cough," said coach Butch Carter, tongue firmly in cheek. ... The Heat extended to 506 their NBA record for consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer. ... Bogues' absence left Vince Carter as the only Raptor who has played in all of the team's games this season. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Toronto Clubhouse Miami Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 114 Washington 81
Miami 97
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