Reaction from the Heat’s dramatic 102-96 overtime win in Toronto to go up 1-0 in this Eastern Conference semifinal series:

• On a night Miami nearly blew this with mental errors and missed free throws, we also saw the value of having seasoned veterans who can recover from a demoralizing blow like Kyle Lowry’s 39-foot heave that sent the game to overtime.

“From that point on, I was extremely proud of our group, to get the air punctured out of your body and show the mental resolve to come back. That was great mental toughness we showed from there,” Erik Spoelstra said. “The overtime was the most mental toughness we’ve shown. Some of what we went through last series helped us with this.”

Joe Johnson (16 points) immediately posted DeMarre Carroll and scored to start overtime; Luol Deng hit a big basket and Dwyane Wade then hit a fadeaway, putting the Heat ahead six and blunting any Toronto momentum.

“We made some mental mistakes at the end of regulation that a veteran team shouldn’t make," Wade said. "We got in the huddle and regrouped. We won this game on the defensive end of the court.

“If you are going to get a game on the road, you want to get this first one. We didn’t play great by any stretch of the imagination. We'll take this win. We fought for it but we can play better.”

• This was a terrific night for Miami’s backcourt, with Goran Dragic scoring 26 and Wade closing with 24 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and the turnover-forcing defensive play against DeMar DeRozan in the final seconds.

Dragic (10 for 20 from the field) didn’t take a shot in overtime but was largely responsible for the Heat extending its lead in the third.

Dragic outplayed Lowry (7 points, 3 for 13) and it wasn’t close. Dragic has now outscored Kemba Walker and Lowry, 51-18, over the past eight quarters.

The starting backcourts in this series have made 16 All-Star Game appearances: 12 by Wade, and two each by Lowry and DeRozan, who scored 22 tonight. Dragic hasn’t appeared in any All-Star games, but in the past 10 quarters, he has looked like the player who was third team All-NBA two years ago.

"Getting my shots that I want," Dragic said. "I'm proud of our team. CB [Chris Bosh] was huge in that timeout [after regulation], encouraging us."

• More from Wade: "We need Goran on the attack. It makes us a way better team. Every opportunity we have to be in these moments, we continue to learn... We learned from our fourth quarter meltdown as a team. But we've responded every time we had one of those moments. That's why I love about this team. Winning Game 6 [in Charlotte gave] so much confidence to this team."

Wade, on his knee: "I hit the bone and I'm sure it's bruised. I will be fine. I've played with it before, so I will do it again."

• More from Spoelstra: “Couple of those side out of bounds [mishaps late], those are on me. I’ve got to diagram something where we can get it in better spots, not leaving the guys hanging. That’s a credit to Toronto."

On Dragic: “We are at our best when he’s aggressive, making plays for us. What I love about Goran is he’s always focused on doing his job, competing as hard as he can. He doesn’t get caught up in the wild ups and downs that inevitably happen in the playoffs.”

• Jonas Valancunias (24, 14, three blocks) got the better of Hassan Whiteside early on, but Whiteside recovered (from that and an early knee strain) to close with nine points, 17 rebounds and a block.

“After he hit that three, we knew we had to do it again,” Whiteside said, via Sun Sports. (Though Sun isn't allowed to show the games, it is carrying a postgame show.) "They hit some crazy shots. [After Lowry's basket] we said, 'Let's do it again.' This is a big win. They were second in the East. They're not a bad team."

Whiteside said he was worried when he strained his knee early in the game; he went to the locker-room briefly.

"It bothered me throughout the game, but I'm a tough dude," he said. "The team needed my rebounding. I can't let my team down. I don't know what I slipped on. There was something wet on the court. I slipped on some sweat or something. For the first five seconds, I was extremely worried, but as I stood up, the pain kind of went away."

• Lowry has now shot below 40 percent in his first eight playoff games: “We have to believe in him,” Toronto coach Dwayne Casey said. “We do believe he’s going to come out of it. He can do other things. He can get the pace up, push the ball in transition. He’s one of our best screeners.”

Lowry, on his halfcourt heave to tie the game: "It didn't mean anything. We lost the game."

• Casey, on Wade’s key defensive plays: “Those plays were back breakers. In the right place at the right time.”.,.. Casey, on defending Dragic: "We’ve got to do a better job of taking away his penetration. We have done it [previously]. We can do it.”

• The Heat has at least one road win in 18 consecutive playoff series... Wade has scored at least 20 points in 15 consecutive games in Toronto.

Here was the NBA players union's statement on Chris Bosh tonight:

For more on the disagreement between Bosh and the Heat, please click here.

• And this tweet tonight from Canadian politician Norm Kelly: "To all the Miami fans in my mentions: Donald Trump is one step closer to being your President as of tonight. You took the real L."

CHATTER

• Matt Slauson, cut by the Bears on Sunday, would make some sense for Miami --– a proven guard who played under Adam Gase last season and was drafted by Mike Tannenbaum in New York.

But as of midday Tuesday, Miami hadn’t reached out to him. At the moment, Billy Turner, Jermon Bushrod, Dallas Thomas and Jamil Douglas would compete at right guard, with Laremy Tunsil at left guard.

• Mel Kiper’s final draft grade for the Dolphins was a B plus. His assessment:

“Let's just go with that for the short version of how the Dolphins ended up with arguably the single-best prospect in the draft all the way down at No. 13. Laremy Tunsil has so many natural gifts for the tackle position, it's just now a matter of where he plays. [Guard initially, Mel.]… Either way, if he's on the field, Miami gets better.

"Not many people know Xavien Howard, but that's not much of a reach in Round 2 -- he was going to go there. From there, this was all about getting Ryan Tannehill and Adam Gase more weapons. Kenyan Drake is Reggie Bush-lite, Leonte Carroo is a productive threat who can make catches down the field, and Jakeem Grant is a jitterbug who is electric in space if you can get him the ball. Thomas Duarte is one to watch, a hybrid wideout-tight end split who could develop. The Dolphins didn't do much for their defense, but they sure as heck tried to help their QB and ended up with a major steal early in the process.”

• An NFC scout, who studied and researched Tunsil closely told me this week: “From watching his film, he’s as good as any left tackle prospect I’ve seen in the last four years. He won’t have any problem moving over to guard next season, especially in a zone blocking scheme. I have contacts [at Ole Miss] and nobody, not the coaches or anybody, had anything bad to say about him….

"Offensive linemen are usually the most cooperative group, so it was surprising he wouldn’t run the 40 or do shuttle work at the Combine. I was thinking maybe there’s a little attitude issue there were hiding. It’s very uncommon not to do it.”

• How unusual is it for a catcher to bat leadoff, as the Marlins’ J.T. Realmuto did Tuesday? Over the past 20 years, Jason Kendall did it 452 times, but no other catcher did it more than 57 times (John Jaso had 57, Russell Martin was next with 38). Thanks to the good folks at Elias for looking that up for me.

“It’s fun, exciting,” Realmuto said.

• With Dee Gordon suspended for 80 games, Don Mattingly indicated he plans to use Derek Dietrich at second base against right-handers, with Miguel Rojas playing against some lefties.

• Justin Bour dislocated his left pinkie in tonight's 7-4 win against Arizona, which pushed Miami over .500 at 13-12. There will be more clarity on his status on Wednesday.

Twitter: @flasportsbuzz