The Miami Heat fumbled their chance to take advantage of another Toronto Raptors matchup, who came into the night with a 5-15 record. They battled till the end, but continue to struggle with late game execution, losing 119-116. Miami now drops back to a .500 record at 9-9 and fall to the sixth seed again in the Eastern Conference.
They have not won three straight all season nor gotten to two games above .500 or better. Despite the inconsistency issues, Tyler Herro remains a prime candidate to earn his first All-Star nod. He dropped a team-high 31 points on 9/16 shooting (56%) and 6/12 from 3-point range. He also added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Herro had it going right from the start, scoring 10 of the Heat’s first 14 points in the game. He has played so naturally on offense all season long. He’s made the necessary adjustments to his shot profile that has helped his shooting look much more efficient and pure.
His long range shooting performance was enough to become the second most made 3-point buckets in franchise history, trailing just Duncan Robinson. The problems with the game started with virtually everybody else, as Miami got minimal contributions offensively from the rest of the rotation.
Bam Adebayo feasted on the boards, adding another near triple-double effort with 13 points, 20 rebounds and 7 assists. However, his shooting struggles continued, missing plenty of easy basket opportunities and failing to get into any sort of offensive rhythm.
Terry Rozier and Jimmy Butler provided 17 points each, but neither were able to produce well enough down the stretch. Unfortunately, Butler tweaked his right knee on a hard transition drive to the rim late in the fourth quarter. The pain caused him to have a slight limp and found himself unable to play in the final minute of the game. When asked about his availability for tomorrow’s Boston Celtics game, he told the media; “I don’t know. We’ll see how it feels when I get up in the morning.”
The biggest disparity against the Raptors came with points in the paint, where they had a 20+ point advantage. Toronto’s RJ Barrett looked virtually unstoppable offensively and got to all his spots. Barrett finished with a game-high 37 points on 15/20 shooting. Scottie Barnes added a near triple-double effort of his own with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
The Raptors shot 53% from the field compared to Miami’s 44%. They were able to come out to double digit leads in both the first and third quarters; forcing the Heat to work themselves out of several holes throughout the game.
Miami had a perfect opportunity to keep momentum going, winning four of their last five games prior to tonight. It only gets harder from here with matchups against the Celtics, LA Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers over the next four games.
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With Love out, maybe Ware will get some playing time tonight.
this back to back with these Raptors have been a staple. With splits almost every season. but hey, Heat still #6 in east lol. might not stay that long with heavyweights the next games but we can hope. 4-2? hehe
They are who we thought they were.
You got it right. And, almost every game, Jimmy gets a little hurt. Its just not a sustainable formula for success. Pat needs to get real and do something for the future of this team, something he didn’t do this offseason. Talk about dogging it, unless we are satisfied with the Alex Burks upgrade, it’s time for the GM to come out of hibernation .
Someone here (30?) said some time ago that they would get no pleasure from saying “I told you so”. But that’s where we are now. I advocated for a Butler trade since last year. Many agreed, but several argued against it or said we’d be mediocre if we did that. Well, guess what? We’re mediocre anyway with limited draft picks and a ‘star’ who seems more interested in enhancing his notoriety than in putting the team first. This team has put together some good role players to go with a (currently) A player in Herro and a B to B+ player in Bam. I believe Ware will prove to be a solid center. But we need that one YOUNG A+ player to be complete and evolve into a contender.
I will make the final judgement after next four games.
Yes, I said it and take no pleasure in being apparently right. As vagibugi says, next four games will likely provide indisputable evidence. Still, it’s no fun right now. The thing that is upsetting is Jimmy was worth some good draft capital. He may still be but it is likely we won’t be selling as high and we needed those picks badly. I do say I am sorry to all that I find myself being so negative, but I wish we handled what appears to be Jimmy’s last chance here, a little better.
Standing Pat ain’t working…Pat.
The longer Riley takes to trade Jimmy, the lower his trade value and the bleaker the Heat’s future!
same old same old ill wait for sunmans response hes the best.im the duncan robinson of post game analysis
Like Dunc, you have your moments. But, I agree, Sunman is our Jnicho now.
Yeah no need to post after game ill save for during the games.But sunmans like jimmy a limited superstar only posts post game not during game.rc is a reliable role player always there posting but to many highsmith brick posts.
I don’t post during games because I would rather record the game and begin watching after the first quarter so I can avoid all the small talk, commercials, halftime bs, and endless in-game postings in order to focus on just the game. I post my analysis afterwards, free of the clutter of the game, other fan’s potshots and often conflicting comments. When I sometimes read the game threads after the games, they make me feel a little “schizy.”
You didn’t comment on what you thought of my post game comments above. I thought I was thorough enough.
they were as usual spot on coolio.only thing i disagree if our big 3( lol) are healthy barely playoff team .jimmy is washed. bam is great defender not so great otherside,herro great o not much d.500 team in the weakest division in nba btw.can u surprise me 1 game and post during the game coolio.drinks on me
Here’s my half-time post for tonight…
I tuned in tonight expecting to watch a basketball game. Instead, they were playing Cornhole.