Heat come up short against Raptors
Miami battles back from 17 down, but falls short to defending champs
The pre-playoffs have opened for the Miami Heat at the NBA’s Disney World bubble.
Monday it was a 107-103 loss to the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors at the Wide
World of Sports complex, firmly entrenching the Raptors in the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Tuesday it’s a matchup against the Boston Celtics, who can all but lock up the No. 3 East seed with a victory.
And then Thursday, it’s a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, who have spent the season as the No. 1 team in the East.
If nothing else, the Heat showed Monday they were up for challenges, battling back from a 17-point third-quarter deficit to a fourth-quarter lead.
“This team has perseverance, a grit to them,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
But Monday, not enough to finish.
For all the uneven play that led to that stage, the Heat had a chance to tie it with 41.4 seconds to play after Goran Dragic was fouled while scoring on a driving layup. He then missed the ensuing free throw, leaving the Heat down, 102-101. The Heat had been 15 of 15 from the line to that
stage, with that the team’s lone miss of the day.
And, still, there were two more chances at redemption.
With 17.4 seconds left, and the Heat still down one, a Dragic pass in the lane to a cutting Jimmy Butler went out of bounds.
Then, with the Heat down two with 7.4 seconds to play, a Butler pass to a cutting Dragic resulted in another turnover.
Ball game.
“You have the ball in those two guys’ hands and you live with the results,” Spoelstra said. “I liked the opportunities on both of them. Sometimes, the defense has something to say about that.”
Dragic led the Heat with 25 points, with Kelly Olynyk scoring 17, Butler 16, Jae Crowder 16 and Tyler Herro 12. Center Bam Adebayo closed with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Fred VanVleet led the Raptors with a career-high 36 points, including seven 3-pointers, supported by 22 points from Pascal Siakam.
Five degrees of Heat from Monday’s game:
1. Another change?: Spoelstra, having replaced Meyers Leonard in the starting lineup with Crowder at Saturday’s start of the seeding games, Monday seemingly created the possibility of another change.
With Kendrick Nunn off to an 0-for-7 start from the field, including 0 for 5 on 3-pointers, Dragicentered the game less than three minutes into the second half.
Dragic has played off the bench in all but one appearance this season. Nunn has started all 64 of his appearances.
The question next becomes whether Nunn’s growth curve will be enough when the playoffs start Aug. 17, with the Heat having already clinched a berth.
Nunn closed at that 0 for 7, for two points.
But Dragic seems content where he stands.
“The second unit that I play with, I feel comfortable,” he said. “I just read the game.
2. Little big man: Even in an NBA offseason likely to be short on cash, VanVleet will get paid in free agency.
The Raptors point guard was up to 31 points through three periods, including 11 of 11 from the line, closing 13 of 13.
It was another example of the Heat struggling to contain an attacking point guard, something the Heat lack on the roster whether Nunn or Dragic open at the position.
3. Defending Duncan: The Heat stood 5 of 23 on 3-pointers at halftime, compared to 9 of 21 for the Raptors. From that perspective, the Heat were fortunate to stand within, 48-44, at halftime.
The Raptors clearly made Duncan Robinson a priority, after he added three more 3-pointers in Saturday’s 125-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets at the start of the eight-game seeding schedule.
This time, Robinson had only a single 3-point attempt in the first half, a miss, with his second attempt not coming until 5:20 remained in the third quarter. His first conversion came 7:04 into the second half, closing 1 of 5 from the field for three points.
“Duncan he works at it,” Spoelstra said, “and he tends to figure it out. So the game plans are in bold with him.”
4. Olynyk again: After scoring all 20 of his points Saturday against the Nuggets in the fourth quarter, Olynyk this time scored all 11 of his first-half points in Monday’s second period.
Olynyk had 10 shots by the intermission, twice as many as any teammate.
For a player who appeared vulnerable to losing his rotation spot, the outside-shooting big man has proven essential.
“His last five, six weeks with us were his best basketball of the season, before the hiatus,” Spoelstra said of the NBA’s March 11 shutdown due to the new coronavirus pandemic. “And then he just continued to keep his conditioning up and was relentless in May and June. His confidence level is extremely high.”
5. Uniform approach: With four days of play at Disney having been completed in advance of Monday’s game, the NBA added players’ names below numbers on jerseys, with social-justice messages remaining above.
Butler continued to opt out of a social message, playing with none above his number and his last name below.
Before Monday’s game, player names only were featured for players who opted out of the league’s pre-approved selection of messages.