Title: Raptors Takeaways: Toronto outgunned in ugly loss to Miami
Date: November 29, 2024
Original Source: Sportsnet
Synopsis: In my latest at Sportsnet, I wrote about the Raptors’ loss to the Heat, one where the usual hustle and little things weren’t present enough to make up for the usual shooting deficit.
For better or worse, every game between the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat over the last decade has felt like a stress test on the aesthetic limits of basketball.
There have been low-scoring, drag-out playoff series replete with injury. There have been last-game-of-the-season injuries that shifted fortunes for the playoffs to come. There have been record-setting poor shooting nights against heavy usage of zone defences. It’s rarely been pretty. It’s often been interesting, if you can find your way through the eyesore.
Friday’s game — a 121-111 loss for the Raptors — always figured to play its part. The Raptors were coming off their best three-point shooting night of the season after an opening six weeks stretching the lower limits of three-point shooting in the modern NBA. The Heat, on the other hand, dare opponents to shoot threes with a zone defence frequency double that of the next highest team, a concession to help them protect the paint without significant size down the roster.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 