Dwyane Wade is Heading to the Hall of Fame, Heat Fall to Raptors 106-92

News would break on Tuesday night, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame have determined their finalists for their 2023 inductees. Miami Heat legend, three-time NBA Champion and former superstar, Dwyane Wade, has been elected as one of six finalists for the class of 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

All six finalists will be formally presented during the Men’s NCAA Final Four in Houston Texas this weekend. The other five finalists aside from Wade, includes Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Becky Hammon and Gregg Popovich.

For the current Miami Heat team, it wasn’t the greatest night as they were short-handed and played without their current superstar in Jimmy Butler, who sat out of Tuesday nights matchup due to soreness in his neck.

Pascal Siakam scored 26, Scottie Barnes would bucket 22 points and dish a career-high 12 assists and the Toronto Raptors would coast by the Miami Heat, 106-92, on Tuesday night in Toronto.

O.G. Anunoby scored 22 points, and former Miami Heat player, Precious Achiuwa and Fred VanVleet each had 12 a piece as Toronto won for the 10th time in 11 home games.

The ninth-place Raptors evened their season record at 38-38, reaching .500 for the first time since December.

“We need every game right now,” Barnes said. “It’s going to be close but we need every game, and every game is important for us.”

Knocked out of the sixth-seed after Sunday’s 129-100 loss in Miami to the Brooklyn Nets, the Miami Heat fell a half-game behind Brooklyn. The Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors are now two games behind Miami in the Eastern Conference standings.

“Every loss right now is tough,” Heat guard Victor Oladipo said. “Obviously it’s a tight situation in the race in the East. Every loss is tough, but it’s about figuring it out so we’ve just got to figure it out.”

Miami won’t have much time to reflect on their loss to the Raptors, as the Heat will visit the Knicks on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“We all feel a certain way about this but we’re going to regroup,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve got 24 hours, we get to play in Madison Square Garden. That’s the only thing we’re thinking about right now.”

Toronto outscored the Heat by a margin of 23-10 on fast-break points and 62-36 on points in the paint.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” an agitated Spoelstra said. “For four and half months of this season we were the very best in the league at protecting the paint. Since All-Star break we haven’t done what we were able to do better than anybody.”

Former Toronto Raptor Kyle Lowry, had six points and five rebounds in 24 minutes of play. The sellout crowd of 19,800 responded with a welcoming ovation when Lowry checked in to start the second quarter.

Tyler Herro on the other hand, he scored 33 points and All-Star Bam Adebayo would add 21 points and 12 boards, adding to his double-double collection as Miami lost its second straight game. The Heat are now 15-22 on the road this season.

Toronto won three of four against Miami, winning the season series for the first time since the 2018-2019 NBA regular season.