Heat lose Raptors rematch at home, fall to 1-3
FTX Arena held the Raptors once more Monday, resulting in a 90-98 Raptors win. The Heat never seemed to get it going, shooting a mundane 35% from the field and 24% from three. The offense is struggling to say the least. Nightly contributors in Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro hasn’t been enough to get it done. A 14 point quarter in the 4th, the Heat has had no one to go to when the court gets small. The ball hasn’t moved around much and shooting has been a deep need with Kyle and Tyler being streaky in the past few games. Despite the Raptors shooting 39 % from the field all night they had 2, 27 point quarters that kept them ahead of the Heat all night. The Heat never seemed to keep a lead or get in front.
Business has been as usual with Jimmy, averaging 23, 7, and 4 splits in his first 4 games. He’s gotten an early shooting streak from 3, he’s gotten to the line at a high rate as well so offense is coming easy for him. But’s being asked to do a lot, with a usage rate of 28%, Butler is being asked to facilitate, score, run plays, and lead. If it’s taken a toll anywhere in his game it’s been his defense. Although alone, Butler isn’t able to stifle teams but posting a def rating of 114, one of the lowest postings in his career.
Butler is the least of this teams worries, Kyle Lowry and Bam adebayo haven’t started off on the right foot this season. Bam has posted some of the lowest statistical remarks in scoring, rebounding, Free throw attempts and assists. Bam is asked to do the most on defense, having to switch 1-5 and protect the rim is a lot. It’s more scheme then personnel in my eyes, teams are switching Bam and putting him onto shooters, keeping him away from the action and letting weaker defenders get isolated against stronger scorers. Offense is a different story, The offense isn’t really moving, Bam can’t really score unless rolling to the basket. Post up opportunities aren’t coming around as much either, with three point shooting currently lacking as well. Along with the recent increase in turnovers Bam hasn’t really gotten the start we hoped for.
Kyle Lowry has shot 28% from the field and 28% from 3, with a recent downtick in playmaking as well with 4.5 assists he’s been far from comfortable in this offense. He’s always had touble getting by defenders but he has to settle for off the dribble threes. There’s reason to believe he’ll soon find a comfortable middle ground as the season goes on as not only has he had 2, 17 point outings where he shot lights out from 3 at 43% he’s been shooting free throws at an incredibly hight clip at 88%.