MIAMI — It was a good night for the Miami Heat.
The Heat’s Monday night began with star center Bam Adebayo’s return and ended with a 104-99 win over the Toronto Raptors (21-20) at FTX Arena. Miami (28-16), which has won 14 of its past 19 games, moved into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference with the victory.
It was a back-and-forth affair that included 22 lead changes and 10 ties, but the Heat took control in the fourth quarter.
Already ahead by two points with 6:57 to play, Miami used a quick 7-0 run to take a nine-point lead with 5:33 left.
The Raptors managed to cut the deficit to three with 1:48 to play and had possession with a chance to tie the game in the final minute. That’s when Heat guard Gabe Vincent came through with a big defensive play to force a jump ball that ended up going to Miami.
P.J. Tucker then sealed the win by hitting a corner three-pointer off a pass from Jimmy Butler to put the Heat ahead by six with 20.7 seconds on the clock.
After Raptors guard Fred VanVleet made a three-pointer of his own with 14.7 seconds left to trim the Heat’s lead to three, Adebayo was intentionally fouled and made both free throws for the final points of the game.
Adebayo, who returned after missing 22 straight games after undergoing surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb, finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes in his first game action in seven weeks.
Butler finished with a triple-double stat line that included 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He clinched the triple-double by grabbing the final rebound of the game with two seconds to play.
Tyler Herro scored a game-high 23 points off the bench for the Heat.
Heat guard Kyle Lowry was unavailable Monday in what would have been his first game against his former team since he left the Raptors to sign with the Heat as a free agent last offseason. He missed the contest because of personal reasons.
The Heat closes its four-game homestand on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Heat is 2-1 during the homestand.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Raptors:
--Adebayo played in his first game in seven weeks.
With tape wrapped around surgically repaired right thumb, Adebayo returned to the Heat’s starting lineup and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and two assists.
It marked Adebayo’s first game action since injuring his thumb during a Nov. 29 home loss to the Denver Nuggets. Adebayo missed 22 straight games, with the Heat posting a 14-8 record during his absence.
It was a slow start for Adebayo, who went scoreless in his first stint. He missed both of his shots attempts — a six-foot hook shot and layup blocked by former Heat teammate Precious Achiuwa — but did grab three rebounds and dished out an assist while playing the first 8:58 of the game.
Adebayo scored his first points of the game on a driving and-one layup with 4:12 remaining in the second quarter. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Adebayo entered halftime with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 17 minutes.
--With Adebayo back, rookie center Omer Yurtseven again found himself out of the rotation.
The Heat stuck with veteran Dewayne Dedmon as its backup center behind Adebayo, with Yurtseven receiving his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) since Nov. 27.
Yurtseven, who spent the first month of the season out of the rotation, played in each of the 22 games that Adebayo missed and started in 10 straight games before spending the entirely of Monday’s win on the bench.
Yurtseven certainly didn’t make the decision between Dedmon and him easy, as he grabbed double-digit rebounds in each of the previous 14 games. That’s the longest such streak by a rookie in Heat history and stands alone as the second-longest overall streak in Heat history behind only Hassan Whiteside’s string of 19 consecutive games in 2017.
It’s also the longest such streak by a rookie since Karl-Anthony Towns grabbed double-digit rebounds in 15 games in 2016.
In his 10 starts during the previous 10 games, Yurtseven averaged 13.6 points, 13.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
But Dedmon has provided quality minutes at center off the bench since has signed by the Heat late last season. He did it again Monday, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes.
--Herro added another impressive performance to his résumé for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
Herro finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting off the bench on Monday.
Herro entered as the NBA’s leading bench scorer, averaging 20.7 points per game as a reserve this season. He’s considered the frontrunner for the Sixth Man of the Year honor.
A Heat player has never won the award before.
With Herro leading the way, the Heat’s bench outscored the Raptors’ reserves 43-23.
--Lowry shouldn’t have to wait too long for his next opportunity to play against the Raptors.
Lowry will have another opportunity to play against his former team soon with the Heat again hosting the Raptors on Jan. 29. The Heat then travels to take on the Raptors in Toronto on Feb. 1 and April 3, with Lowry speaking earlier this season about how emotional he expects his first game back in Toronto to be for him.
“I wanted to see him. I understand he’s not here. So I wanted to see him, obviously,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I guess I don’t know how I feel about it. I think that you go in and you always want to compete against the best players. I was kind of looking forward to seeing what that was going to be like, but we’re going to have to put that on hold right now and just hope whatever the personal issues are nothing too bad that he can’t handle. We’ll see him shortly.”
Along with Lowry, the Heat was without Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning), KZ Okpala (wrist sprain), Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery) and Chris Silva (ineligible to play) on Monday.
The two players the Heat dealt to the Raptors to acquire Lowry through a sign-and-trade: Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa. Dragic remains away from Toronto because of a personal matter, but Achiuwa started and finished Monday’s game with six points and 15 rebounds.
“He’s in a good place right now,” Nurse said of Achiuwa. “We’re just trying to learn him and let him learn us a little bit. I think he does a lot of things. He’s big and strong, athletic, good at the rim, can handle some, rebound and really can move his feet on defense, as well. So we think we’ve got a really good young versatile player.”
--Duncan Robinson returned to the starting lineup, but did not play in the fourth quarter.
Robinson, who played the previous five games in a bench role after starting in his first 35 appearances this season, finished with eight points on 2-of-5 shooting on threes, three rebounds and tied a career-high with three steals in 18 minutes in his first start since Dec. 28. He spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench, though.
Robinson, who shot just 3 of 20 from deep in the previous three games, entered shooting 34.7 percent from three-point range this season.
That’s not up to the all-world standards Robinson set for himself after he made an incredible 44.6 percent of his threes in 2019-20 and 40.8 percent of his threes in 2020-21. Only Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (553) and Portland’s Damian Lillard (545) totaled more made threes than Robinson (520) in those two seasons.
But Robinson has been better recently, as he entered shooting 37.1 percent on threes since the start of December.
With Robinson back in the starting lineup, Strus returned to a bench role and finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Strus had started in eight consecutive appearances.
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