Short-handed Heat can’t overcome rebounding, turnover issues. Takeaways from loss to Raptors
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 112-104 loss to the Toronto Raptors (9-7) on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena to open a four-game trip. The Heat (7-8) continues the trip on Friday against the Washington Wizards:
Without two of its best players, the Heat made its situation even more challenging with turnover and rebounding issues.
Missing two starters in center Bam Adebayo and guard Tyler Herro because of injuries, the Heat could not overcome their absences in the second half against the Raptors.
Miami started strong, shooting 58.8 percent from the field and 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) from three-point range in the first two quarters to enter halftime ahead by six.
The Heat even extended that lead to 11 points with 8:52 left in the third quarter.
But that’s when things went bad for the Heat, as it did not score again until there was 1:34 left in the period. Miami didn’t score a point for 7:18 of game clock.
In that time, the Raptors went on a 21-0 run to completely swing the game. Miami went from ahead by 11 to trailing by 10 points during that stretch.
Turnover and rebounding issues plagued the Heat throughout the game, but got worse as the night went on.
The Raptors grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to outscore the Heat 26-5 in second-chance points.
Miami also committed a season-high 23 turnovers that Toronto capitalized on to score 29 points. Seven of the Heat’s turnovers were travel calls.
“I would say that this is probably just a prototypical Toronto Raptors game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They sped us up at times, forced us into a lot of turnovers, uncharacteristic turnovers. The travels, I don’t know. Any given night, you can call some of those. But not six or seven of them. But that’s neither here nor there. They still would have sped us up into 15 or 16 turnovers that got them out into the open court. They got some easy ones from that.
“Then, obviously, even after some of our good defensive possessions, too many of those ended up in second-chance opportunities, particularly after defending 18, 20 seconds of the clock. ... I thought we did enough good things outside of those two areas to give yourself a better chance to win the game. But you have to credit them. They played to their game more than we were able to get to our game.”
Those extra possessions for the Raptors and empty possessions for the Heat led to Toronto closing with a huge 86-66 edge in field-goal attempts.
“I haven’t seen the stat sheet,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “How many more shots did they have? 20. That’s the game right there.”
How bad was it?
The 23 total rebounds the Heat finished with on Wednesday is tied for the second-lowest single-game rebounding total in franchise history. It’s also the fewest rebounds the Heat has grabbed in a game since the 2014-15 season.
“It definitely felt like they were dominating the glass,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent said. “Looking at the box score, it just looked like a misprint. Definitely a huge factor in the game. They had way more shots than we did and it ended up being a huge key for them.”
Turnovers and rebounding hadn’t been big issues for Miami prior to Wednesday’s loss.
The Heat entered the game with the NBA’s 13th-highest defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs) of 72.6 percent and ninth-lowest turnover percentage (the percentage of plays that end in a team turnover) at 13.8 percent for the season.
But without Adebayo and Herro, they were problems.
Caleb Martin finished with a team-high nine rebounds and no other player on the Heat’s roster grabbed more than three rebounds on Wednesday.
Despite the long scoreless streak and rebounding and turnover issues, the Heat still shot 54.5 percent from the field and 13 of 35 (37.1 percent) on threes.
That efficient offense allowed Miami to keep it close even after Toronto’s big run. The Heat trailed by only three points with 2:29 left in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors closed the game on a 7-2 run to clinch the win.
It should be noted that the Heat’s defense was actually solid Wednesday on the initial possession, holding the Raptors to a below average half-court offensive rating of 89.7 points per 100 half-court plays. But Toronto’s extra opportunities proved costly.
Without Adebayo and Herro, the Heat needed a big night from star Jimmy Butler. But he turned in a relatively quiet performance with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and five assists while committing a team-high five turnovers in 38 minutes.
O.G. Anunoby led the Raptors with a game-high 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting from the field and 10 rebounds.
Heat rookie Nikola Jovic made his first NBA start on Wednesday, and it came at ... center.
With Adebayo out because of a left knee contusion, the Heat opted to start Jovic in his place. Jovic became the youngest player to start a game for the Heat in franchise history at 19 years old — he’s 116 days younger than when Herro made his first NBA start.
At 6-10 and 205 pounds, Jovic’s long-term position in the league will be at forward. But with the Raptors also playing small because of their own injury issues, the Heat turned to Jovic to fill Adebayo’s void in the starting lineup on Wednesday over other centers on the roster like veteran Dewayne Dedmon and undrafted rookie Orlando Robinson.
“I don’t think I need to change anything,” Jovic said of playing center. “I just need to adapt. I think I can play multiple positions. It doesn’t bother me that I’m playing center. As long as I can help my team win, I’m going to do whatever I can.”
Jovic, who was selected by the Heat with the 27th pick in this year’s draft, finished his first NBA start with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting on threes, three rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes.
Most of that production came in the opening minutes, as Jovic scored 11 of the Heat’s first 20 points and made four of his first five field-goal attempts. Each of those four made baskets were assisted.
“I mean, that’s all my teammates,” Jovic said of his strong start to Wednesday’s game. “I think every basket I scored, I didn’t take a single dribble or maybe one. But they were really setting me up, they helped me. I did what I did in the first quarter, but I stopped a little bit.”
An undrafted rookie also played meaningful minutes for the Heat on Wednesday.
Instead of going with an eight-man rotation like it has in the last few games while Herro has been out, the Heat extended the rotation to nine players against the Raptors.
That included rotation regulars like Dedmon, Vincent and Duncan Robinson off the bench. Two-way contract forward Jamal Cain, 23, took the extra spot in the bench rotation.
Cain, who went undrafted this year out of Oakland University, finished scoreless and missed all three of his field-goal attempts in his six minutes of action on Wednesday. He did grab one rebound.
“Just to get guys a few extra minutes in the first half just so we were fresh for that second half,” Spoelstra said of his decision to extend the rotation and play Cain against the Raptors. “We’ll continue to do that on this trip as much as possible. These are extenuating circumstances, for sure. We have a lot of guys out, so we’re going to play guys big minutes. That’s where we are now and we’ll get healthy bodies back soon.”
Prior to Wednesday’s appearance, Cain had logged just two minutes of playing time in one game with the Heat this season.
Instead, he has spent most of the season with the Heat’s G League affiliate as part of his two-way contract. Cain has averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals in three games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season.
Wednesday marked the sixth game the Heat has made Cain active for. Two-way deals allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, with the rest of their playing time having to come in the G League.
Lowry returned to Toronto to play his former team on Wednesday for just the second time since he joined the Heat in the 2021 offseason.
Lowry, who is considered one of the greatest players in Raptors history, finished with 19 points while shooting 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 7 from three-point range and two assists.
It’s the continuation of an impressive stretch for Lowry, who entered averaging 13 points while shooting 45 percent from the field and 9 of 22 (40.9 percent) from three-point range, six rebounds and 6.3 assists over the previous four games.
“Just figuring it out,” Lowry said of easing his way into the season. “One thing about it is it’s a marathon and not a sprint. Early in the year we were trying to figure out our team. Right now, unfortunately, we’ve got injuries so that forces everyone to step up a little bit more. I think we’re figuring some things out. 14 games in, if you’re concerned about your individual stats and your game right now, you shouldn’t be. It’ll come.
“As a veteran player, my thing is everyone comes in from the summertime and you’ve gotta get back comfortable with each other as group and we’ve gotta figure out different lineups, different teams. But I think we’re coming together very well.”
Lowry is now 1-1 in the two games he has played against his former team in Toronto as a member of the Heat.
As for Adebayo, Spoelstra labeled the Heat’s starting center as day-to-day.
Adebayo missed his first game of the season on Wednesday because of a lingering left knee contusion, but the team’s hope is it will be a short-term issue that will have him back on the court soon.
“Two or three games ago, he had a knee contusion,” Spoelstra said during his pregame session with reporters. “He tends to get hit in the same spot every single game and that’s what happened. He was able to finish the game, but it’s just been sore.”
Along with Adebayo, Udonis Haslem (personal reasons), Herro (sprained left ankle), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) missed Wednesday’s game for the Heat. That left Miami with just 11 available players against the Raptors.
The Raptors were also short-handed and missing two starters on Wednesday. Toronto did not have Precious Achiuwa (right ankle sprain), Ron Harper Jr. (G League), Otto Porter Jr. (left foot toe dislocation), Pascal Siakam (right adductor strain) and Gary Trent Jr. (right hip soreness) against Miami.
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 10:02 PM.
