TORONTO - As much as could reasonably be hoped for, really. More actually. 

It’s not just that the Raptors swept the second installment of their potentially season-defining two-game home series against the Miami Heat with a 128-114 win that was improbably more impressive than their win on Tuesday, which was also a blowout. 

That would have been at the top of any Raptors fan’s wish list when the week began. 

It was who was front and centre in the cause. 

Did anyone expect Brandon Ingram to play his best game of the year in his 75th start after playing just 18 games a year ago, and averaging 52 games per season in the prior eight years? 

Did anyone expect 20-year-old rookie Collin Murray-Boyles to be an instant opponent game-plan wrecker? A 250-pound chaos agent with a sky-high basketball IQ. As impactful a rookie as almost anyone the Raptors have ever put on the floor, outside of Vince Carter and Scottie Barnes? 

Can anyone honestly say they predicted that? Hoped for it, maybe. Dreamed of it. 

But that’s what has come to pass. 

Perhaps sensing the playoffs nearing, Ingram seemed to be on a mission, a sleepy-eyed assassin determined to steal the Heat’s weak will sooner rather than later. He had 23 points at halftime and had earned his way to the free-throw line 11 times as he constantly turned the corner and headed into traffic. 

“I'm able to survey the basketball floor, make the right passes on the floor,” said Ingram, who finished with a season-high 38 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists.  “But getting downhill and trying to search for arms and shoot over the top of other guys, you know, just a part of the game. I think I see more openings around the paint than ever tonight, and I just wanted to continue to attack.”

As for Murray-Boyles, for the second straight game against the Heat and for the umpteenth time this season, the burly rookie entered the game and changed it, making one positive play after another – some big, some small – that shifted the momentum in his team’s favour. 

In the first quarter, he checked in and forced a turnover on an inbounds pass that led to an Ingram bucket. He then scored after rebounding an Ingram miss, won a race to a 50-50 ball with Heat big man Bam Adebayo, got fouled and made both free throws, got another offensive rebound, and then blocked a Heat forward at the horn. He was 8 in less than six minutes. 

There were more plays like that in the second quarter as the Raptors took a 69-50 lead into halftime. He finished with 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting, eight rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot and was 21 in 22 minutes completely on merit. 

Not surprisingly, his coach is a fan: 

“Collin is outstanding.........

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