Undermanned Toronto Raptors dominate against Miami Heat

Toronto has been in a free fall on the offensive end for several weeks now, and this has caused them to lose many games that you would expect them to easily wrap up by the third quarter. Headed into last night’s game, without the services of two starters in RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl it seemed as if it was the perfect recipe for a Raptors loss, but through a collective group effort as well as some well-needed outside shooting, Toronto was able to quiet the critics for a night and pull out the win.

Toronto opened up the game on a 16-3 run, Miami could not buy a basket and Toronto made sure each shot that went up saw a contest or some resistance. Toronto began 3/6 from three, and just seemed to be outrunning Miami in the opening minutes. These were not beautiful offensive possessions from Toronto, but it was a team taking advantage of the opportunities that the defense was giving them. Almost as fast as they got it, Toronto coughed up this lead and allowed Miami to close the gap. It seemed as if it would be another game where Toronto would struggle on offense, but each time Miami would try to overtake them for the lead they would find a way to keep them at bay.

Scottie Barnes had an aggressive night, the type of night you want your franchise star to have when it seems that the team as a whole is drowning. Barnes was not content with just getting up mid-range looks, whenever he had a smaller defender on him such as Jaime Jaquez Jr., he did not let him off the hook with a jumper, he took him to the paint, turned his back, and took his time backing him down to get the shot that he likes and the shot that he knows he can get. 

Even against bigger defenders like Bam Adebayo, Barnes still would back his way into the paint, and muscle these layups in with such soft touch. All but one of Barnes’ made shots came outside of the paint, this was a game where Barnes was imposing his will on Miami’s defense, and quite frankly, this is what Toronto needed him to do.

In the NBA, the three-point shot is king. Winning the possession battle is also key and something that teams across the league are eager to do and shift their schemes toward doing. Last night Toronto outgunned Miami from behind the arc, and led by rookie Collin Murray-Boyles on the offensive glass, they won the possession battle as well. Murray-Boyles grabbed a career high 11 rebounds last night, with a staggering 9 of them coming on the offensive end. The rookie used his broad and strong frame to get down in the paint and do the dirty work and Toronto benefitted extremely from his hard work. He was in the paint to rebound, but he was also a very strong defender, often leaping to swat or contest the shots of Heat ball handlers who managed to find their way to him.

Toronto knocked down 14 triples last night, which was 6 more than Miami managed to cash in. Plenty of this was shooters just knocking down their open shots, and this is something that good NBA teams do, they do not let defensive miscues go unpunished and for a night, Toronto upheld this standard. Sandro Mamukelshvilli who got the start for the injured Poeltl went 4/6 from three last night and he did it in a very simple way. He would set the screen for a pick and pop, flare out to the three point line and shoot the rock if his defender stepped over too much to help. The Mamu pick and pop was a staple for Toronto’s offense last night and Mamu has shown that he is a great secondary decision maker so when he would attack closeouts he would make the proper read. 

Mamu finished with a season-high 7 assists and his confident and patient playmaking helped Toronto’s offense run last night. He hit Barnes with a n underhand pass in transition for a layup, he also found Barnes with deep post position and immediately fired the ball to him. Mamu just made the simple reads, but with the way Toronto was shooting, this helped them immensely.

Toronto snapped their losing-streak at just two games when it seemed that they were in danger of going on a major skid. Next up for Toronto are the Washington Wizards, whom they face on Boxing Day after a two-day break from NBA action.

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