Heat falls to Raptors to drop back to .500, as Jimmy Butler exits early. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 119-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors (6-15) on Sunday night at Scotiabank Arena to open a quick two-game trip. The Heat (9-9) is right back at it on Monday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun):
The Heat is back at .500 and now Jimmy Butler is dealing with a new injury.
Sunday’s matchup was a back-and-forth affair for most of the night, as the game included 18 lead changes and 10 ties.
After entering halftime in a five-point hole, the Heat actually held a two-point lead with 5:54 left in the third quarter.
That’s when the Raptors took control of the game, closing the period on a 23-10 run to take an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The Raptors’ lead grew to as large as 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Heat made one last push to make it a close game down the stretch.
After the Raptors pulled ahead by 12 points with 4:03 to play, the Heat went on a 14-5 run to cut the deficit to just three with 1:04 left.
The Heat then forced the Raptors into a 24-second shot clock violation, giving itself an opportunity to pull even closer or tie the game in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
But Heat guard Tyler Herro missed a clean three-point look that would evened the score with 28.6 seconds remaining.
“A great look, a really good look,” Herro said of that missed shot.
Even with a 4.6 second differential between the shot clock and game clock, the Heat opted to foul. Scottie Barnes made one of the two free throws to push the Raptors’ lead up to four with 12.2 seconds to play, clinching the win for Toronto.
The difference on Sunday proved to be the Raptors’ success in the paint.
Toronto finished the game with a big 68-46 advantage over the Heat in paint points. That’s the most paint points that the Heat has allowed in a game this season.
“We definitely did not offer any kind of resistance, certainly not the kind of resistance that you would need to do on the road to put yourself in a legitimate chance to win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It didn’t matter what lineup, it didn’t matter what scheme, it didn’t matter who was on who. We just were not able to contain the ball in transition or in any kind of one-on-one situation.”
Heat center Bam Adebayo added: “We can’t get over that hump unless we all buy into getting back in transition, doing the little detail stuff on that end.”
The Raptors also outscored the Heat 62-36 in the paint during Friday’s matchup between the two teams in Miami. But the Heat still won that game 121-111 behind a 63-33 edge from three-point range.
This time that three-point shooting wasn’t there, as the Heat shot 15 of 40 (37.5 percent) from three-point range on Sunday. Miami only outscored Toronto 45-30 on threes in their second meeting.
It didn’t help Raptors guard RJ Barrett outscored the Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Jimmy Butler by himself on Sunday.
Barrett totaled 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 shooting on threes and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line to lead the Raptors to the win.
Adebayo filled the box score with 20 rebounds and seven assists, but scored just 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field. Adebayo is now averaging just 15.7 points per game on 42.6 percent shooting from the field this season after averaging 19.3 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting from the field last season.
Butler closed the loss with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds, three assists and one steal in 34 minutes. But Butler was subbed out of the game with 24.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter after tweaking his right knee on a layup while being fouled with 1:27 remaining.
“We didn’t put ourselves in a position to deserve to win,” Spoelstra said. “So often in this league, you have to be worthy to win and you don’t necessarily win even on those nights that you’re worthy to win. We were not worthy to win tonight.”
As for Butler’s injury, his status for Monday’s matchup against the Celtics is now in question.
Butler was able to walk around the locker room under his own power following Sunday’s loss, but did so with a limp.
“I’m cool,” Butler said when asked how he felt. “A little banged up. Ain’t nothing new.”
Butler’s latest injury is to the same knee that he hurt late last season, when he suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee during the NBA’s play-in tournament. That injury forced Butler to miss the rest of the postseason.
When asked if an MRI or X-ray will be needed on his injured knee, Butler wasn’t sure as he prepared to get on the team’s flight to Boston on Sunday night.
“I don’t know,” Butler said. “I ain’t even there yet. I’m just happy to be able to put this sleeve on, do all this treatment on this plane. Then when we land in Boston, we’ll figure it out.”
Is there any chance Butler feels healthy enough to play on Monday against the Celtics just 24 hours after tweaking his knee?
“I don’t know,” Butler said. “We’ll see how I feel whenever I wake up in the morning, get all the treatment that I can get and hopefully I’m ready to rock.”
Butler, 35, has already missed four of the Heat’s first 18 games this season because of a sprained ankle.
Herro was again the Heat’s main source of offense.
Herro was hot from the start on Sunday, scoring 13 of the Heat’s 24 points in the first quarter.
As part of Herro’s first-quarter scoring display, he made a 35-footer near halfcourt at the end of the shot clock to save what appeared to be a botched possession late in the opening period.
Herro ended the night with a team-high 31 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, 6-of-12 shooting on threes and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line. He also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Herro has now scored 20 or more points in 12 of the Heat’s first 18 games this season. He entered Sunday’s contest averaging a team-high 23.6 points per game this season.
Sunday also was a milestone night for Herro.
With Herro’s fifth made three against the Raptors, he passed Tim Hardaway for second on the Heat’s all-time list for three-pointers made. Herro closed Sunday’s loss with 808 made threes since being drafted by the Heat in 2019.
The only player ahead of Herro on this list is his teammate Duncan Robinson, who finished Sunday’s game with 1,056 made threes since joining the Heat as an undrafted free agent in 2018.
“I’ll be chasing him for a while,” Herro said with a smile after moving into second place on the list.
Heat rookie center Kel’el Ware was a late scratch for Sunday’s game.
Ware was added to the Heat’s injury report just a few hours before tipoff before eventually being ruled out for Sunday’s game because of right foot tendinitis. It marks the second game that Ware has been unavailable for this season, as he was also held out of the Heat’s Oct. 26 win over the Charlotte Hornets because of a stomach illness.
With the Heat’s top two centers — Adebayo and Kevin Love — available against the Raptors, Ware likely wouldn’t have played on Sunday anyway.
The Heat also was without Nikola Jovic (sprained left ankle), Josh Richardson (illness), Josh Christopher (G League) and Keshad Johnson (G League) against the Raptors. That left 12 players available for the Heat on Sunday.
The Raptors were missing Bruce Brown (return to competition reconditioning), Gradey Dick (left calf contusion), Kelly Olynyk (back strain) and Immanuel Quickley (partial UCL tear in left elbow) against the Heat.
The schedule is about to get a lot tougher for the Heat.
After falling to the struggling Raptors, the Heat travels to Boston to take on the defending NBA champion Celtics on Monday to complete the road back-to-back set.
Monday’s matchup against the Celtics marks the start of a string of four straight games against teams with winning records — Monday at Celtics, Wednesday vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday vs. Phoenix Suns and Sunday vs. Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Heat also has tough games against quality teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets later this month.
Considering that the Heat holds a poor 1-5 record this season against teams currently with a winning record, this upcoming stretch could add to the narrative that Miami struggles against quality competition or this stretch could represent a breakthrough for Miami.
“You can’t hide,” Adebayo said of the challenging stretch ahead. “That’s the thing I love about the NBA. You’re going to play people. You’re going to play the good teams, you’re going to play the bad teams and then you’ll see where you are.”
The good news for the Heat is three of the next four games will come at home and the Celtics could be missing a few key players on Monday. Boston, which will also be playing on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday, lost to the Cavaliers on Sunday without Jaylen Brown (illness) and Derrick White (right foot sprain).
The Heat is now 8-4 this season against teams currently with a losing record.
This story was originally published December 1, 2024 at 8:35 PM.
