The Toronto Raptors open a seven-game homestand Sunday night with a chance to avenge a loss to the Miami Heat in a return match.
The Raptors fell to the Heat 121-111 Friday night in an NBA Cup game to conclude a 1-3 road trip. Afterward, Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said that he was looking forward to the rematch.
“I’m really, really excited because we’re going to play the same team in less than 48 hours, so it’s going to be a mini-playoff series,” Rajakovic said. “We’re going to watch film, learn from it and get better.”
A player from each team had a triple-double on Friday. Miami’s Bam Adebayo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the eighth triple-double of his career. Toronto’s Scottie Barnes had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the sixth of his career.
The Raptors should take comfort in playing at home, where they are 4-4. The Heat, who have won four of their past five games and two in a row, are 5-4 on the road.
RJ Barrett led Toronto with 25 points on Friday while Jakob Poeltl added 24 points and 10 rebounds.
The Heat took over the game on Friday with a 38-23 third quarter after trailing by three points at halftime.
Toronto still led 79-77 with 4:23 to play in the third, but the frame ended with Miami leading 96-84.
“We know what we’re capable of when we play the right way,” said Miami’s Jimmy Butler, who had eight of his 26 points in the third quarter. Tyler Herro had nine of his 23 points in the third. Reserve Jaime Jaquez Jr. had eight of his season-best 15 points in the third quarter.
“It was the second part of the third quarter that we just could not hold it,” Rajakovic said. “They started getting hot, making shots. They ended up the game with 21 threes.”
Toronto had 11 3-pointers and also committed 19 turnovers leading to 27 points. Miami committed 10 turnovers leading to 14 points.
“Our (19) to their (10) turnovers and their 3-point shooting and our 3-point shooting, that was the biggest difference in the game,” Rajakovic said.
Rajakovic feels that the turnovers can be corrected with better passing on fast breaks. “We were trying to punish them in transition and some of those passes were not precise enough,” he said.
Adebayo has had two consecutive games with 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
“We want to take advantage of (Adebayo’s passing) as much as possible and want him to be aggressive, put pressure on the defense at the rim,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s managing that extremely well. That probably puts a lot of pressure on teams scouting against us when Bam gets double-digit assists. A lot can go wrong for your defense when he’s in play-making mode.”
“That’s what it’s all about, trying to get easy looks (for teammates),” Adebayo said.
“He’s getting everyone the ball in position where they can score,” Butler said.
Jaquez hit two 3-pointers during Miami’s 19-5 late-third-quarter surge.
“We want (Jaquez) to be aggressive,” Spoelstra said. “Part of that aggressiveness, there is a lot of responsibility to make the right read and bring a second defender. If he continues to get to his spots, teams will do that. He was assertive on his catches. He has been working diligently on his shooting.”
–Field Level Media
