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And then, the breakthrough that wasn’t. A big Game 5 win in which Lowry and DeRozan finally — finally! — played like themselves was undone on Friday night as the Heat flashed some depth of their own.

In keeping with the theme that no Raptors playoff game can resemble the one that preceded it, Miami came out with the Smart car of lineups: two guards and three forwards, only one of whom was even six-foot-nine.

The strange grouping, a result of the injury to Hassan Whiteside and the ineffective play of Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem, seemed to get Toronto immediately out of sorts. The Raptors came out shooting poorly — speaking of playoff themes — although the Heat matched them with wayward shots of their own. Miami was up 21-20 after one quarter, but then they started getting shots to fall and stretched the lead to 53-44 at halftime. Toronto had what should have been a huge advantage in the paint, but Miami’s shooting (59 per cent) torched them in the second quarter, aided in large part by the fact that Heat players were driving freely to the rim.

The Raptors had moments in the second half when they looked like they were about to make a lead-closing run, but Miami repeatedly pushed back. The fault was not on Toronto’s backcourt, as DeRozan had 23 and Lowry scored 36 of his own. Apparently there is more to this game that just your best players performing well.

“It means nothing,” said DeRozan of the fact that he and Lowry have now been good for a couple games. “We lost.”

But if there is a bright spot for the Raptors, it’s that they have been here before. This Game 6 road loss wasn’t quite the disaster of the Game 6 thumping the Raptors took in Indiana in the first round, and they still pulled out that Game 7 at home.

“It’s going to be fun,” Lowry said. “Game 7, two [seed] versus three [seed].” He said they will be ready. “Just go out there and hoop.”

It’s not at all what they wanted, but they will have to do it again.

sstinson@postmedia.com