Miami Heat Outplayed In The Paint By Toronto Raptors

Miguel Mike Medina | 3 Hours Ago

Dec 1, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo (13) shoots the ball as Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (13) defends in the second half at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images / Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Miami Heat had trouble stopping the Toronto Raptors in the paint in a 119-116 loss on Sunday night.

The Heat dropped back to .500 (9-9). On Friday, the Raptors outscored the Heat 62-36 in the paint, but the Heat won. 

Sunday was a different outcome. The Raptors poured 68 points in the paint. The Heat never allowed that many points in the paint this season and were outscored by 22 points by the end of the game (68-46). 

“I feel like we ain’t give enough effort,” center Bam Adebayo said. “We try to rely on scoring to kind of bring us back, but you know, certain points in the game, you can see when we are really imposing our will in that end, we’ll come back and tie the game or take the lead.”

The Heat’s defense mostly struggled in the first and third quarters. Not getting back in transition was one of their biggest achilles heel in this game. 

The Heat are a talented defensive team, but it’s frustrating when their performance doesn’t result in them coming out with a victory. 

The Heat didn’t put themselves in the best position to win. 

“We definitely did not offer any kind of resistance,” Erik Spoelstra said. “Not the kind of resistance that you need to do on the road to put yourself in a legitimate chance to win. It didn’t matter what lineup, didn’t matter what scheme, it didn’t matter who was on who, we just were not able to contain the ball in transition or any kind of one-on-one situation.” 

Miguel Mike Medina is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com

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