Dwyane Wade scored 35 points and LeBron James added 31 as the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 123-116 in overtime.
"It was typical for a team to come off a long road trip, have days off and try to get back in a groove, especially versus a team that offensively is one of the top 10 in the league in offense and scoring the ball," the Associated Press quoted Wade as saying about the team's slow start.
"It took us time to get our legs into it and get our rotations down, but as the game went on we were able to do that."
James, who added 11 assists and 10 rebounds against the Raptors, completed his 34th career triple-double.
For the Heat, Ray Allen had 18 points, Mario Chalmers added 14 and Chris Bosh scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Toronto dominated the Heat in the first half, but Miami came back in the rest of the game, before stepping it up in the extra five minutes. The Heat outscored the Raptors 14-7 in OT with the help of a 13-2 run. Wade and Allen scored six points apiece, while James also had five rebounds.
"Just tried to keep wearing on them," James said. "We knew it was going to take a little while to get the engines back started, but we got enough stops in the second half to give ourselves a chance to win."
For the Raptors, Alan Anderson was the leading scorer with 20 points. Jose Calderon had 17, Terrence Ross scored 16, and Amir Johnson contributed with 15 points.
Miami demonstrated better shooting in the game as they made 45 out of 82 attempts from the field, whereas the Raptors finished with 44-of-88. Miami also out-rebounded Toronto 53-28.
"I cannot fault our guys' effort," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "They fought, they scrapped, they played with their hearts and they took one of the best teams in the NBA to the limit.
"That's what I said before the game. This game is about respect. This game's about going out there and not letting teams think they're going to come out and get their numbers against you. And our guys fought."
Toronto scored 28 points in the first quarter and stopped the Heat at 22 to take a six-point lead in the game. The Raptors again outscored Miami 29-28 to enter the second half with a seven-point lead.
Miami rallied in the third quarter and put themselves in the leading position at 88-84, but Toronto again outscored the Heat 25-21 in the fourth to force OT, before the Heat stepped up a gear in the deciding period.
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