1. Even without Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, Miami was firmly in control for about two and a half quarters on the strength of pristine offensive play and Max Strus rim attacks – really. Which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if you’ve been watching the team for long. The more rotation players you take away from them, the stronger their offense seems to get.
But games aren’t two and a half quarters long. The HEAT probably weren’t up by as much as they would have liked to be given how well they were scoring, in part because of those turnovers but also because the defense – the activity level was great throughout – was giving up good looks to Toronto outside of Toronto struggling with the zone a little bit. However it came about, a 21-0 run is a 21-0 run and that’s exactly what happened to Miami in the latter half of the third. The shots dried up, the turnovers continued and the Raptors, with Fred VanVleet (23 points on 21 shots) and OG Anunoby (32 points) knowing exactly where they wanted to go, found their comfort zone.
Gabe Vincent (16 points, 6-of-11 shooting) did his best to keep the HEAT hanging around during the third-to-fourth quarter bridge, and Kyle Lowry (19 points on nine shots) had some heroics left in his old stomping grounds, but once the Raptors stretched their lead back to double digits and got into the bonus midway through the fourth it was tough sledding from there.
Both teams were missing key players. The HEAT played like they always played when down important bodies. They just fell a little short to a good Raptors team on the road.
2. Breaking the trend from previous seasons, when it typically took a month or two for the miscues to even out, Erik Spoelstra’s group has been pretty good when it comes turnovers since opening night. But with one ballhandler in Herro already out and then the team’s offensive hub in Adebayo also ruled out the day of the game, it’s understandable that there would be some mistakes against the only team in the league that forces more turnovers than Miami. All that said, there’s no denying that 23 turnovers came with a significant cost.
Pretty much all the same can be said of the rebounds. Miami has been a better rebounding team than most people realize, but without Adebayo – who leads the league in defensive box outs – there just wasn’t much size left on the roster, especially as they closed the game effectively playing Jimmy Butler (a quiet night with just eight shot attempts) at center. Toronto’s 16 offensive boards – Miami only had four – made up for their 7-of-26 shooting from deep, keeping them in the game when they were behind and pushing away every HEAT push when they were ahead.
Neither should be considered a long-term issue assuming Adebayo will be back soon, but the story of this game is in those two categories.
Pick any game and chances are at least one of Max Strus, Caleb Martin or Gabe Vincent had a great night.
3. Nikola Jović got the start at center – manning the middle with multiple centers injured as has been his very early role – in the absence of Adebayo and the early returns were very encouraging. Called up for plenty of early pick-and-rolls, with Lowry and Butler serving him up plenty of pocket passes, Jović scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in his first eight minutes. But while the scoring total (13 points) is going to be the story after this one – good catches on the move, and you of course have to finish your opportunities which he did – what impressed most, what continues to impress most about Jović, is his advanced sense of the floor. When he gets a catch and there isn’t a shooting opportunity readily available, he gets off the ball quickly. Not just getting rid of it to get rid of it because he’s not confident but capitalizing on a rotating defense and flipping passes to open players – one looping pass that sailed out of bounds aside, though the target was open – on both sides of the court. Shooting and scoring is important, but where Jović shows his most advanced skills is when it’s time to pass.