Heat drops fifth straight in home loss to Raptors. Takeaways and an injury update on Nikola Jovic
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 106-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors (16-11) on Monday night at Kaseya Center to drop its fifth straight game. The Heat (14-12) now enters a two-day break before hitting the road to begin a three-game trip on Thursday against the Nets in Brooklyn:
The Heat and Raptors both started the season fast, but both have also struggled recently with each team entering Monday’s matchup on a four-game losing skid. But it was the Heat that lost its fifth straight game on Monday.
It was a sloppy first half, as both the Heat and Raptors committed 11 turnovers in the first two quarters. The Heat led by as many as 11 points in the first half before entering halftime with a six-point advantage.
The Heat and Raptors continued to go back and forth in a third quarter that featured two lead changes and five ties. But after the Raptors pulled ahead by four points with 2:24 left in the third quarter, the Heat closed the period on a 9-2 run to enter the fourth quarter with a three-point lead.
That’s when the Heat’s offense went cold, as the Raptors opened the fourth quarter on a 17-4 run to build a 10-point advantage and take control of the game with 7:31 to play.
The Heat made a late run to cut the deficit to four points with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter.
But the Raptors responded to seal the win, as guard Jamal Shead drove past Heat guard Norman Powell to make a 7-foot floater and extend Toronto’s lead to six points with 1:09 to play.
Then Powell committed a Heat turnover, and the Raptors took advantage with a put-back layup from Scottie Barnes off an offensive rebound to put Miami in an eight-point hole with 35.8 seconds remaining.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of difference in this game for either team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s just about in those moments of truth, finding a way to win those moments, and they won moments there in the fourth quarter.”
The Heat’s offense totaled just 19 points on 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting from three-point range in the fourth quarter.
As a result, the Heat finished with a season-low 96 points on Monday. It marks the first time this season that Miami has been held under 100 points after ranking as the NBA’s highest-scoring team for most of the first month of the season.
The Heat, which averaged 124.3 points through the first 21 games this season, has averaged just 105.6 points per game during this current five-game losing skid.
“I told the guys after the game, scoring 140 and everybody being proud of what our offense is and what it looks like and how different it is from previous years and things like that is great at the beginning of the season,” Powell said after Monday’s defeat. “But who are we going to be when we have nights like this, consecutive nights like this? And it’s going to be a team that has to hold their hats on the defensive end.”
Bam Adebayo and Powell each finished with a team-high 20 points for the Heat. Adebayo also added 10 rebounds in the loss.
But the Heat shot just 9 of 31 (29 percent) on threes in the defeat. The Raptors shot 16 of 40 (40 percent) from three-point range to outscore the Heat 48-27 from behind the arc.
Raptors forward Brandon Ingram totaled a game-high 28 points with the help of 5-of-7 shooting on threes.
“They made more plays in the moments of truth than we did,” Spoelstra continued. “Hey, seasons get like this and you just have to stay together and get back to work. Really, we did a great job getting to the free-throw line. They won the three-point line. It’s really been a few games in a row where that’s happened.”
Even after a five-day break, Heat guard Tyler Herro’s toe injury remains an issue.
Herro took part in the Heat’s three practices leading up to Monday’s game, but he was a late scratch against the Raptors because of a lingering right big toe contusion.
“He and the trainers met. And he just didn’t feel right, they didn’t feel right about it,” Spoelstra said when asked why Herro was a late scratch on Monday. “We’ll re-evaluate him tomorrow and see what the next step or where he’ll be tomorrow.”
Herro also missed two straight games on Dec. 5 and 6 because of the injury before returning to play in Tuesday’s NBA Cup loss to the Orlando Magic.
The hope was this five-day break between games would give Herro time get back to close to 100 percent physically after also missing the 17 games of the season because of left ankle surgery in September.
But just 30 minutes before tipoff on Monday, the Heat announced that Herro would not play against the Raptors. He was listed on the injury report prior to the game but only as “available,” and he was also in the initial starting lineup that the Heat sent out over social media on Monday night before quickly making the correction.
Herro is averaging 23.2 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the field, 40.5 percent shooting from three-point range and 92.3 percent shooting from the foul line in his six appearances this season. The Heat is 3-3 in the six games that Herro has played in, as he has missed 20 of the first 26 games.
Along with missing Herro, the Heat was also without guards Pelle Larsson (sprained left ankle) and Terry Rozier (not with team) against the Raptors. It marked the first game that Larsson has missed since turning his ankle in Tuesday’s loss to the Magic.
The only rotation player out for the Raptors on Monday was RJ Barrett because of a right knee sprain.
Then there was a scary moment in the first quarter, as Heat forward Nikola Jovic took a hard fall just seconds after entering the game and was ruled out for the rest of the night.
Jovic, who recently dropped out of the Heat’s rotation, entered with 3:50 left in Monday’s first quarter. He had received three DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) in the previous seven games after his rough start to the season, but was set to play extended minutes on Monday with Herro and Larsson unavailable.
But Monday’s opportunity didn’t last long, as Jovic went up for a dunk in transition and came crashing down to the court after being fouled by Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
Jovic immediately grabbed at his lower back and stayed down on the court writhing in pain, as Heat teammates and trainers immediately rushed to check on him.
Heat trainers initially called for a stretcher to be brought out, but the stretcher ultimately wasn’t needed. Instead, Jovic was able to walk off the court under his own power but with his right arm in a protective brace.
Jovic, who only was able to play 12 seconds before his hard fall on Monday, left the game and didn’t return because of what the Heat labeled as a “right elbow injury.” X-rays on Jovic’s injured arm returned negative and he’ll undergo an MRI on Tuesday.
“It looks like we dodged a bullet on that one,” Spoelstra said. “He came down really hard, and split his elbow open. So it was bleeding. But the scan came back negative, which is a good thing. But that’ll be sore for a while. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow, just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that we saw. But the bones are fine. He lost all feeling in his hand because it was a massive stinger. But like I said, hopefully we dodged a bullet.”
Jovic, 22, signed a four-year, $62.4 million extension with the Heat in October. The extension begins next season.
“I was just impressed that he actually tried to dunk it,” Adebayo said of the play. “Usually Niko tries to lay that up. But once you see guys start waving to the trainers to come get him, that’s when you start to worry that he’s really in bad shape. But Niko is a warrior.”
With the Heat missing Herro and Larsson, forward Simone Fonteechio received his first start in two seasons.
Fontecchio began Monday’s game alongside the Heat’s four other usual Heat starters — Davion Mitchell, Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Adebayo. It marks the Heat’s 11th different starting lineup through the first 26 games this season.
Not only did this mark Fontecchio’s first start of the season, but it was also his first start since March 17, 2024 when he was a member of the Detroit Pistons.
Fontecchio, who has become a fixture in the Heat’s bench rotation this season, was quiet in his first start. He recorded just three points on 1-of-4 shooting from three-point range, four rebounds, two assists and one block in 26 minutes on Monday.
Dru Smith was a bright spot off the Heat’s bench.
As part of a Heat bench rotation that also included Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Jovic and Keshad Johnson, Smith stood out.
Smith finished Monday’s loss with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 minutes.
Ware also had some positive moments, finishing with six points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes.
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM.
