Rebounding and turnovers plague Miami in loss to Toronto

The Miami Heat get their road trip started with a 112-104 loss to the Toronto Raptors as they struggled to rebound to no one's surprise, but they also couldn't take care of the ball. The Raptors were led by OG Anunoby and his season-high 32 points and 10 rebounds.

For the majority of this game the Miami Heat were in the drivers seat and keeping the Toronto Raptors at bay with solid execution on the offensive end. Unfortunately, they couldn't take care of the ball and finished with 23 turnovers to just 19 assists. That is not the kind of basketball we are used to seeing from this team, but the Raptors are extremely good at forcing you into turnovers with their rotations and length. Plus, when you are missing two of your best players in Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo it only makes things harder. Though it needs to be mentioned that Toronto were without Pascal Siakam, Precious Achiuwa and Gary Trent Jr as well.

I'm sure you can all imagine that with the absence of Bam it's not hard tothis team was out rebounded 42-23 even with Toronto missing Siakam and Achiuwa. I'll only say it once this recap, but the lack of size was incredible and it constantly had guys like Gabe Vincent, Max Strus or Kyle Lowry boxing out the likes of Chris Boucher or OG Anunoby and both had big games. Even when they have their matchup boxed out the ball is easily tipped out and the other team grabs the board regardless.

Of course Erik Spoelstra knows all of this, as he knows more about basketball than I'll know in a lifetime, so instead of bringing Dewayne Dedmon into the starting lineup tonight and messing with his bench rotation he brought out rookie Nikola Jovic into the starting lineup, and boy did he look nice to start this one. He finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and 4-of-4 from the free throw line to go with three rebounds, one assist and one steal in 23 minutes. He didn't look overwhelmed and showed that he can be a major rotation piece if the coaching staff and this team can deal with his growing pains. There were moments when he hesitated and it lead to a turnover or a disruption to the offensive flow and that's a big reason why he didn't play much in the second half.

It really felt like Miami were in control of this game for the most part as they were able to execute their offensive game plan and shoot the ball effectively. Things suddenly changed in the 3rd quarter when Toronto went on a 21-0 run to turn an 11 point deficit into a 10 point lead and they never looked back. It should be no surprise that the Heat were heavily undersized during this stretch, but Jimmy Butler was unable to impose his will on this game. This was one of the quieter games I have ever seen from him in a Heat uniform. He looked passive and just didn't have any aggression in this game.

Same can't be said about Kyle Lowry, who was up to play his former team in the place he used to call home. He was encouraging the contact to the rim and was making some heavily contested finishes that I did not expect to see from him. His outside shot was hitting as well as he finished with 19 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three. Though he certainly didn't help with the ball security in this one (2 assists to 4 turnovers), he was active defensively and battled for all 48 minutes.

As did the trio of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Caleb Martin. All three contributed in different ways, but they all had a huge part in trying to get Miami back in this game. Caleb continues to play extremely strong defense with a never ending motor while giving the Heat whatever they need offensively. Today he had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with nine rebound, three assists and two blocks. Gabe has been stringing these strong games together as he had 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, five assists and two rebounds. On multiple occasions when the Heat were down and looking lethargic it was Gabe who would hit a timely three or find an open teammate for a bucket. Of course we can't forget about Max, the official sniper of the Miami Heat, he had 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-8 from deep to go with three rebounds, two steals and one block. He does it all for Miami and that includes delivering a ridiculous dunk on at least two Raptors. If you haven't seen it already, what are you doing?

Next up, the Miami Heat continue their road trip with a visit to the Washington Wizards on November 18th at 7:00 PM EST. They'll be coming off a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, so I expect them to come out with a lot of energy. If the Heat are with out Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro again, they'll need a lot more from their superstar Jimmy Butler.