The Miami Heat fumbled their chance to take advantage of another Toronto Raptors matchup, who came into the night with a 5-15 record. They battled till the end, but continue to struggle with late game execution, losing 119-116. Miami now drops back to a .500 record at 9-9 and fall to the sixth seed again in the Eastern Conference.
They have not won three straight all season nor gotten to two games above .500 or better. Despite the inconsistency issues, Tyler Herro remains a prime candidate to earn his first All-Star nod. He dropped a team-high 31 points on 9/16 shooting (56%) and 6/12 from 3-point range. He also added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Herro had it going right from the start, scoring 10 of the Heat’s first 14 points in the game. He has played so naturally on offense all season long. He’s made the necessary adjustments to his shot profile that has helped his shooting look much more efficient and pure.
His long range shooting performance was enough to become the second most made 3-point buckets in franchise history, trailing just Duncan Robinson. The problems with the game started with virtually everybody else, as Miami got minimal contributions offensively from the rest of the rotation.
Bam Adebayo feasted on the boards, adding another near triple-double effort with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 7 assists. However, his shooting struggles continued, missing plenty of easy basket opportunities and failing to get into any sort of offensive rhythm.
Terry Rozier and Jimmy Butler provided 17 points each, but neither were able to produce well enough down the stretch. Unfortunately, Butler tweaked his right knee on a hard transition drive to the rim late in the fourth quarter. The pain caused him to have a slight limp and found himself unable to play in the final minute of the game. When asked about his availability for tomorrow’s Boston Celtics game, he told the media; “I don’t know. We’ll see how it feels when I get up in the morning.”
The biggest disparity against the Raptors came with points in the paint, where they had a 20+ point advantage. Toronto’s RJ Barrett looked virtually unstoppable offensively and got to all his spots. Barrett finished with a game-high 37 points on 15/20 shooting. Scottie Barnes added a near triple-double effort of his own with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
The Raptors shot 53% from the field compared to Miami’s 44%. They were able to come out to double digit leads in both the first and third quarters; forcing the Heat to work themselves out of several holes throughout the game.
Miami had a perfect opportunity to keep momentum going, winning four of their last five games prior to tonight. It only gets harder from here with matchups against the Celtics, LA Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers over the next four games.
