DeRozan and Lowry break out in Game 5 victory After clanking his first two jumpers in Game 5, it looked like it would be another long night for Toronto Raptors struggling guard, DeMar DeRozan, Then, something happened, writes TSN's Josh Lewenberg.

Josh Lewenberg TSN Raptors Reporter Follow|Archive

TORONTO - It started with a shoelace, one that should probably end up hanging from the rafters next to the division championship banners at the Air Canada Centre if Wednesday's performance is what DeMar DeRozan needed to wake up from his post-season slumber.

After clanking his first two jumpers, it looked like it would be another long night for the Raptors' struggling guard. He had been mired in one of the worst shooting slumps of his seven-year career, tied to the nagging thumb injury he sustained earlier in this second-round series against Miami.

With his shot failing him, DeRozan looked to attack early in Game 5. He hit his next four attempts, all layups or runners in the paint, before missing his next five. Then something happened. He knocked down a three-pointer, his first in five games, then got a 17-footer to fall, then another, then another. By the time he picked up his fourth foul eight minutes into the second half, he had scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the third quarter.

DeRozan was back.

"He was just persistent trying to get his shot," Dwane Casey said of DeRozan, who matched a playoff career high with 34 points in the Raptors' 99-91 win over the Heat to take a 3-2 lead in the series. "He used his athletic ability, speed and quickness. He wasn’t hesitating, he was very decisive and that’s the way he has to play."

While his confidence may have returned, it's not exactly like the discomfort in his shooting hand just disappeared. To his own admission, DeRozan has had difficulty gripping the ball, shooting free throws - he was 10-for-20 from the line in three games coming into Wednesday's contest - and, ironically, even tying his shoes.

He had experimented with wearing a brace during practices and pre-game warmups but couldn't get used to it. So the team got creative. In timeouts DeRozan was spotted wrapping a single shoelace around his sore thumb, an attempt to keep the swelling down. It was painful.

"It just felt like a blowtorch on my hand," he said. "That's all."

That's all.

"It worked, though."

After aggravating the ailment early in the fourth quarter, DeRozan was forced to leave the game and go to the locker room. The Heat were on a run and it came minutes after Toronto had already lost DeMarre Carroll to a wrist injury. Carroll had been ruled out for the rest of the night and Casey wasn't sure they'd be getting DeRozan back either.

"I asked him was he ready and he said he was," Toronto's head coach said. "(Director of sports science) Alex McKechnie was doing some kind of magic with him on the sideline with some kind of special tape, doing massage and everything and I guess it worked because he was 11-for-11 from the free throw line."

Nine of those free throws came in the final quarter, where DeRozan and Kyle Lowry scored 20 of the team's 24 points. The two all-star guards combined for 59 points, the most they've totaled in a playoff game this year, and the result was a wire-to-wire victory. It was, by far, the best they've played as a tandem in this post-season.

"I was happy to see Kyle hit some big shots and obviously set the tone and DeMar come out aggressive," said Bismack Biyombo, the third-best Raptor on the night. "It made the game a lot easier, everybody got to do their job, no pressure. At the same time we knew it was going to happen sooner or later. We've got to roll with DeMar and Kyle. They got us here so you have to be thankful for it and know that when their shots start falling we're going to be just fine. Tonight was a good night for us."

"They’re our guys," Casey reiterated. "We can disparage them all we want to and talk about how bad their shooting is, you don’t forget how to score the basketball. It’s going to come back. When? You hope it’s within this series but it’s going to come back."

Lowry's night, like DeRozan's was up and down, at least offensively. He had missed 12 of his 14 second-half shots before sinking two big ones, a three and a runner, in the final minute to seal the victory. His impact throughout was undeniable, as is usually the case. The Raptors outscored Miami by 25 points in the 41 minutes Lowry played, they were bested by 17 points in seven minutes with him on the bench.

With the Raptors one win away from uncharted waters, their first ever Conference Finals berth, they can only hope that this was the game both Lowry and DeRozan needed to get back on track. The team is undefeated in post-season games when both players score at least 20 points, only problem is it's happened just four times in three years together.

Maybe DeRozan just needed to see the ball go through the rim but maybe, just maybe, it was something else.

"You may have to start selling shoestrings," he shouted to McKechnie.