Scottie Barnes' career night pushes Raptors to much-needed win over Heat

Scottie Barnes left his imprint on a short-handed Miami Heat squad as the Toronto Raptors came away with a 106-92 win on Tuesday in a pivotal game.

In what started off as a rock fight of a matchup, the reigning Rookie of the Year impacted all facets of the game, finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds and a career-high 12 assists to go along with some impressive slams.

The win improved the Raptors (38-38) to a .500 record for the first time since early December, as they picked up the victory against a squad that was without its best player in Jimmy Butler. It kept the Raptors in the ninth seed in the East, since the Atlanta Hawks also won their Tuesday matchup, but does knock down the seventh-seeded Heat to only two games ahead of Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings.

Each win holds more weight, as the Raptors try to secure the best possible seeding for the play-in tournament.

Scottie Barnes was on a mission to give the Raptors a boost when nothing else seemed to be going their way to start. (Credit: Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

With six games remaining, if the Raptors finish the regular season as the seventh or eighth seed, they’d just need to win one game in the play-in to enter the playoffs and start a seven-game series. As the ninth or 10th seed, they’d need to win two games — but if they were to lose their first game in that scenario, they’d be knocked out in do-or-die fashion.

Along with Barnes' stellar production, Pascal Siakam put up a team-high 26 points and nine rebounds. It was enough to weather the storm Miami's Tyler Herro created with 33 points. 

The win capped off a 3-1 homestand for the Raptors. They’ll play their next five games on the road, starting with the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday before their season finale back at Scotiabank Arena on April 9.