The last time the Toronto Raptors played the Miami Heat, it was rather a standout game for the host Raptors. The Raptors struggled in a variety of ways. It was Toronto’s first home loss of the season, and it felt, at times, like a blowout. Bam Adebayo bottled up Pascal Siakam, adding himself to the list of perhaps five players in the league who can bother the Cameroonian forward. Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry combined to shoot seven-of-34 from the field. Duncan Robinson shot six-of-nine from deep, and Jimmy Butler was masterful as he put up a triple double.
Yet the Raptors still took the game to overtime and even had a lead with under a minute to play in regulation. That’s not so much an abdication of the negatives of the loss as it is evidence that even when things go wrong for the 2019-20 version of the Toronto Raptors, they’re still usually not so bad. Toronto found offense from Marc Gasol and Norman Powell especially, both of whom were electric in the paint.
Well, this time around, the Raptors won’t have either Gasol or Powell, of course.
The Heat, on the other hand, are rolling right now. Sitting at 24-9, and 15-1 at home, they have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. They’re an insanely talented team, with Butler positioning himself as one of the best players in the East. Adebayo is basketball poetry as a mobile, switchable, shot-blocking, passing, do-everything center. He’s a menace on both ends of the floor. Goran Dragic is back and is one of the best bench guards in the league. Derrick Jones jr is emerging as a defensive menace. The Heat are stocked with shooting, defense-minded wings, and, aside from letting the Garrison Mathews-led Washington Wizards steal one in their last game, are on a roll. Toronto will be hard-pressed to keep pace with a full-strength Heat.
Yet somehow that’s exactly what the Raptors seem to do. Only a few days after losing in humiliating fashion to the Boston Celtics at home on Christmas Day, the Raptors traveled to Boston and played a professional, seamless game, and beat the Celtics right back. After letting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander explode in Toronto, the Raptors turned around and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers easily. The Raptors rarely disappoint, and amidst all the injury woe, that could be their most definitive characteristic at this point in the season.
GAME INFO
Tipoff: 7:30pm EST | TV: SN1| Radio: 1050
RAPTORS UPDATES
Pascal Siakam (groin), Norman Powell (shoulder), Marc Gasol (hamstring), Matt Thomas (finger), and Dewan Hernandez (ankle) remain out.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Terence Davis
SG: Fred VanVleet, Malcolm Miller
SF: Patrick McCaw, Oshae Brissett, Stanley Johnson
PF: OG Anunoby, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
C: Serge Ibaka, Chris Boucher
Heat UPDATES
James Johnson (illness) and Udonis Haslem (illness) are day-to-day. Justice Winslow is out indefinitely with a back injury.
PG: Kendrick Nunn, Goran Dragic
SG: Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Dion Waiters
SF: Duncan Robinson, Derrick Jones jr., KZ Okpala
PF: Bam Adebayo, Kelly Olynyk
C: Meyers Leonard, Chris Silva
THE LINE
Toronto is +5.5, and the over-under is 215.