Gameday: Heat @ Raptors, Jan. 22

The Raptors. Oh, the Raptors.

After their best performance of the season in a win against the (shorthanded) Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, the Raptors laid an egg against the (shorthanded) Miami Heat on Wednesday, losing 111-102.

Just when we thought they might have turned a corner by playing an impressive brand of basketball against Dallas, holding Luka Doncic down and scoring efficiently, the Raptors played without energy or focus on both ends of the floor against Miami.

Defensively, the Raptors are still trying to play their aggressive, switch-happy, run-guys-off-the-three-point-line defence. It’s not working. Last game, there were a number of communication issues where the players weren’t clear on if they were supposed to be switching or not, and despite not double-teaming the Heat at all, the rotations still looked slow or non-existent at times. Fourteen games into the season, there is no longer room for excuses: the Raptors either need to show that they can play this defensive style, or they need to simplify it and work from a floor without so many nuances.

Offensively, the Raptors need to figure out the Heat’s zone defense. As Eric Koreen wrote about in The Athletic, they need to be more aggressive and creative in order to beat it. Instead of just shooting threes over the Heat’s rotating defenders, the Raptors need to punch holes and work from the inside-out rather than just swinging the ball around the perimeter.

OG Anunoby was really good in the middle of the zone against the Heat. He was the Raptors’ only real bright spot on the night. He should get another opportunity to operate in that space, and he needs to continue being aggressive near the rim, especially if he has someone besides Bam Adebayo in between him and the rim. Pascal Siakam should, too. He has that mid-range shot in his bag, and hitting a couple could open up the floor for his teammates.

In general, the Raptors would also be smart to hunt mismatches against the shorthanded Heat, who stuck Adebayo on Siakam for most of Wednesday’s game. The Raptors can run pick-and-roll or just set screens to get Adebayo switched off of Siakam, giving Siakam an easier opponent to target. Siakam needs to be more aggressive finding his shots, especially in transition where Siakam has basically stopped scoring. Fatigue could very well be an issue given how big of a role he has, but the Heat are a good defensive team, so one of the only consistent ways to get buckets against them is in transition or by hunting mismatches. If he doesn’t play due to a groin injury, look for the Raptors to really make running the floor in transition a priority, because they don’t have many other half-court creators.

In terms of the rotation, Nurse talked about Matt Thomas potentially getting some runs after Wednesday’s loss, given how good three-point shooters can often stretch zone defenses beyond their limits, I would like to see that. In general, I thought the Raptors had settled on a nice rotation on the West coast trip with Malachi Flynn, Stanley Johnson, and Yuta Watanabe. What happened to that? Given how inconsistent Normal Powell and Terence Davis have been, especially defensively, I would like to see the Raptors mix up their rotation in their second game against the Heat.

At this point in the season, I’m not even asking for a win. I’m just asking that the Raptors shore up their defensive communication so that they stop beating themselves. And offensively, it would be nice to see a little more creativity from the Raptors’ core players, because firing up 40 semi-contested three-pointers a game is not an enjoyable thing to watch.

Here’s to hoping!