MIAMI — Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 98-90 loss to the Toronto Raptors (1-2) on Saturday night at FTX Arena to close its season-opening four-game homestand at a disappointing 1-3. The Heat now hits the road to begin a three-game West Coast trip on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers:
The Heat’s offense simply wasn’t good enough.
Even with the Raptors shooting just 39.5 percent from the field, they found a way to win on Monday.
That’s because the Heat closed with just 90 points on 34.9 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-33 (24.2 percent) shooting from three-point range.
The Heat’s fourth-quarter offense was especially rough, as it scored just 14 points on 6-of-20 (30 percent) shooting from the field in the period. Miami entered the final period ahead by five points, but those offensive struggles allowed Toronto to erase that five-point deficit by winning the fourth quarter 27-14 to rally for the win.
The Heat’s offense has been below average to begin the season, entering Monday with the NBA’s 18th-best offensive rating and they fall even further down the rankings following its ugly performance against the Raptors.
Jimmy Butler finished with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line, to go with eight rebounds and four assists.
But the rest of the Heat’s roster combined to total just 64 points on 21-of-68 (30.9 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-31 (19.4 percent) shooting from three-point range on Monday.
Bam Adebayo recorded an inefficient 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field, 15 rebounds and four assists.
Kyle Lowry closed with only seven points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting on threes, three rebounds and two assists.
Max Strus scored six points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field and 0-of-8 shooting from deep.
With starting power forward Caleb Martin serving his one-game suspension on Monday, Strus started in his place.
Strus, who moved to a bench role to start this season after playing as a starter during last season’s Heat playoff run, returned to the starting lineup for one game but missed 11 of his 14 shots on Monday.
Monday’s Heat starting lineup of Lowry, Tyler Herro, Butler, Strus and Adebayo had not played together much before.
Before starting Monday’s game, this five-man combination had been outscored by eight points in 11 minutes together through the first three games of the season. But this group was very good together in a limited together last season, when this lineup outscored opponents by 30 points in 19 minutes together.
With Strus playing as a starter on Monday, that forced coach Erik Spoelstra to tweak the bench rotation.
The Heat went with a bench rotation of Dewayne Dedmon, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.
The big change was that Highsmith players more than usual after Strus’ shift to the starting lineup left a void to fill off the bench.
Highsmith logged 10 minutes on Monday after averaging 2.4 minutes through the first three games of the season.
In addition to Martin, Heat rookie forward Nikola Jovic also served his one-game suspension on Monday for leaving the team’s bench and entering Saturday’s altercation.
The Heat has not been able to survive the non-Adebayo minutes early this season.
The Heat outscored opponents by 4.2 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo on the court through the first three games. And Adebayo was also a positive on Monday, when he finished with a plus/minus of five in his 38 minutes against the Raptors.
But the minutes without Adebayo have been a nightmare for the Heat so far this season.
Entering Monday’s game, opponents had outscored the Heat by 22.8 points per 100 possessions with Adebayo not on the court through the first three games.
That negative trend continued, when the Heat was outscored by 13 points with Adebayo on the bench on Monday.
Dedmon has played most of the minutes at center in the non-Adebayo minutes, and he has struggled to start.
Entering Monday’s game, the Heat had been outscored by 15.4 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court through the first three games.
Defense has been Miami’s biggest issue with Dedmon in the game, posting an absurdly high defensive rating of 130.7 points allowed per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court in the first three games. That’s the worst on-court individual defensive rating on the roster.
Those numbers got worse on Monday when Toronto outscored Miami by 13 points in the 10 minutes that Dedmon played.
It’s still early in the season, but one of the key to long-term success for the Heat is to find a way to survive the 12 or so minutes Adebayo isn’t in the game.
Dedmon was successful in doing that in the previous two seasons after joining Miami as a free agent late in the 2020-21 season. The Heat outscored opponents by 17.1 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon the court in the 16 games he played with the Heat in 2020-21 and outscored opponents by 3.5 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon the court last season.
But Dedmon’s minutes haven’t been so positive this season.
The only other center on the Heat’s roster besides Adebayo and Dedmon, Omer Yurtseven, has yet to play this season because of an ankle injury.
With the Heat missing its starting power forward and the Raptors featuring elite length at just about every position, Miami needed its smaller players to contribute on the boards. Tyler Herro delivered.
While the Raptors closed with a 10-8 edge in offensive rebounds and 52-46 edge in total rebounds, Herro helped keep Toronto from dominating the glass.
Along with scoring 22 points, Herro tied a career-high with 15 rebounds. He grabbed one offensive rebounds and 14 defensive rebounds.
On the other side, former Heat big man Precious Achiuwa finished with a career-high 22 rebounds for the Raptors. Achiuwa is the first Raptors player in franchise history to grab 20 or more rebounds while playing as a reserve.
Monday represented an NBA milestone for Heat forward Jamal Cain
The Heat made Jamal Cain active against the Raptors. It’s the first time Cain has ever been active for an NBA game, not counting the preseason.
But Cain is still waiting for his first NBA minutes. He did not play on Monday despite being in uniform and made active.
Cain was inactive for the first three games of the season as Miami navigated the NBA’s two-way contract rules. Cain, who was a bright spot for the Heat this preseason, is only eligible to be on the Heat’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games as part of his two-way deal.
Following Monday’s contest, Cain can only be active for 49 more games this regular season. Those on two-way deals are not eligible to take part in the NBA playoffs.
Cain’s move to the active list on Monday was mostly due to the Heat missing so many players.
Along with not having Jovic or Martin available as they served their one-game suspensions, Miami also remained without Victor Oladipo (knee) and Yurtseven (ankle). That left the Heat with just 12 available players against the Raptors.
