Coming off a hard-fought game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Toronto Raptors suffered a tough 116-108 loss against the Miami Heat on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Raptors moved to .500 on the season with the win over Philadelphia, but they are taking on a Heat team that is a far cry from the club Toronto beat the brakes off of earlier this year, as they had Jimmy Butler back in the lineup.
Sloppy play haunted the Raptors throughout the entire game, and most of the blame can be directed to it being the second night of a back-to-back. Despite the Heat being the 10th seed in the conference, this is the same team that made the NBA Finals a season ago, and they proved why they are so lethal in this game.
The success that the Raptors had towards the end of the Sixers game carried towards the first portion of the game against Miami, but wasn’t sustainable for the entirety of the game.
The Raptors couldn’t sustain a hot start against the Heat
The first quarter showed great intensity from the Raptors, as the return of Kyle Lowry brought energy and life to the Raptors roster. Defense wasn’t much of a concern for both teams, as the first quarter score was 35-32 in favor of Toronto. Lowry connected on two deep three-pointers that gave the Raptors a sigh of relief to have their veteran star leading the charge.
Both teams continued to exchange baskets, as the competitive nature began to show among these two gritty clubs. Up until just a few minutes of the second quarter, the stalemate continued between the two teams until the Heat started to breakthrough.
It quickly became the Butler show, with timely baskets and exceptional playmaking. Lowry was able to keep the Raptors within striking distance, but with no other Raptor providing any assistance on offense, it only resulted in Miami’s lead increasing. The Heat were able to turn a three point deficit at the end of the first into a 10 point lead going into halftime.
Toronto began to make a run within the third quarter due to the help of Lowry, who finished the game with 24 points, seven rebounds, eight assists. Chris Boucher gave the Raptors great energy on defense and offense, being one of the few bright spots from Toronto’s second unit.
After a flurry of baskets being traded Fred VanVleet connected on a miraculous shot at the buzzer to cut the lead to seven going into the fourth quarter.
The Heat understand where the cracks are in the Raptors defense and offense. Spo is one of the best.
— TooMuchHoops (Brad) (@Too_Much_Hoops) February 25, 2021
The magic number for the Raptors was seven, which seemed to be the scoring hump that Toronto couldn’t get over. No matter all the attempts to cut the lead, Miami always brought the lead to seven points in their favor, but the Raptors wouldn’t go away.
One poor performer from tonight was Pascal Siakam, who ended up on the bench near the end of the game after totaling a pitiful five points and getting in foul trouble early. Bam Adebayo had his way with the Raptors’ smaller lineup. Outside of Boucher’s 11 points, the entire bench totaled just 13 points.
If there was one thing to take away from the game against the Sixers, it was that the Raptors refuse to give up. Although there were 14 turnovers committed by the team in white, Toronto continued to chip away at the lead.
The resilience of Toronto is commendable and deserves applause, but the bench needs to perform better. After rising above .500 for the first time this season a couple of games ago, the Raptors will have some work to do to get back there and sustain it. Toronto will shift their gears for their next game against the Houston Rockets.