2. Game 5 vs Miami Heat (2016)
The Raptors’ hero entered their Game 5 matchup with a swollen thumb. DeRozan wasn’t going to let the swelling or pain deter his game. Instead, he kept the swelling down by wrapping a shoelace around it.
The method sounded silly but work phenomenally, as DeRozan matched a playoff high with 34 points and beat the Miami Heat 99-91 to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
“We have faith in those guys; they’ve carried us the entire season,” then-Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “Not one time did we doubt their ability to score.”
DeRozan’s scoring influenced the rest of the team, his partner in crime Kyle Lowry adding 25 points while Bismack Biambo dropped 10 points. The win also pushed Toronto closer to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
“We just tried to go out there and be aggressive,” DeRozan said. “We’ve been aggressive these past two series, and shots just weren’t dropping for us. We just told ourselves we were going to continue to be aggressive and it was going to come back around.”
It was DeRozan’s franchise-best 13th 20-point game in the playoffs and his sixth that postseason. It’s no wonder Canadian basketball fans love DeRozan so much.