Not all of them are pretty, or clean basketball for a full 48 minutes, like we often say–but the Miami Heat escaped Friday with a 121-111 win over the Toronto Raptors Friday evening inside Kaseya Center.
Miami began shooting just 2-of-20 from 3-point range and had just 20 points in the first quarter. It shot themselves back into it, knocking down a season-high 21 3s–making 19 of their last 34 3-point attempts. Eight players canned at least two triples, including two–Tyler Herro and Terry Rozier–with four apiece.
Jimmy Butler led with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 2-of-4 from 3-point range, adding six assists and two seals. Herro had 23 points on 8-of-18 from the floor, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. had arguably his best game of the season, tallying 15 points with four rebounds and three dimes in 18 minutes off the bench.
Bam Adebayo became one of three Heat players all-time with 200 career double-doubles with the Heat–the other two being Rony Seikaly and Alonzo Mourning. Though he recorded his 8th career triple-double in Friday’s winning effort, finishing with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Adebayo was able to corral his 10th rebound as time expired at the end of regulation, becoming the second Heat player ever (Jimmy Butler, Lebron James) with at least eight career triple-doubles.
RJ Barrett led the Raptors with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, hauling down six rebounds with seven assists. Jakob Poeltl posted a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double; Scottie Barnes notched a triple-double of his own, tallying 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Friday’s win puts Miami at one game above .500 (9-8) for the third time all season–the first since Nov. 3. Toronto, meanwhile, drops to a lowly 5-15.
The Heat were already out of the in-season tournament before Friday’s game began, so the result was inconsequential to them possibly advancing to the knockout stage. Though they finish group stage play 2-2 with a plus-20 point differential, currently the fifth-best differential in the East at the time of this publishing.
Miami has yet to win three straight all season, but will look to do so against the Raptors again on Sunday inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.
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It’s hard to get too excited about the Heat’s wins, considering that of their 9 wins, only one has been against a winning team, (the Mavericks who were without Luka). They have lost to four winning teams (Orlando, Knicks, Suns and Nuggets), one .500 team (Milwaukee) and three losing teams (Kings, Pistons and Pacers).
After Sunday’s game against Toronto, the next four games will be against winning teams (Boston, Lakers, Phoenix and Cleveland). If the Miami beats Toronto and wins one of the following four games, the team will be 11-11. If Miami only wins one of it’s next five games, the team will be 10-12.
At what point will the light go on for Riley that this team, as he has constructed it, is not a viable contender? The trade deadline (February 6, 2025) is only 5.5 weeks away. It will interesting to see if Pat pulls a rabbit (or two) out of his hat in the next few weeks or if he decides to “let it ride” with the team’s current personnel.