Miami Heat: Sunset Vice helping to get the team back on track

The Sun Set

Now that the team is battling in games and seem to have an identity, fans can look forward to what the coaching matchup may have in store from game to game.

The Raptors were short-handed at center, so Ibaka was left on an island of sorts with Whiteside in the first quarter. In the second quarter, we saw the bigger Greg Monroe try his luck at Whiteside. It slowed him down a touch offensively, but allowed him to lurk near the paint to protect the basket.

This wasn’t quite the answer to the Raptors problems though, since the Heat shot 55 percent in both the first and the second quarters.

Quickly after the third quarter started, the Raptors matched up in a zone defense.

Contrary to the Heat’s 3-2 zone that’s meant to disrupt and annoy ball handlers up top while rotating to the corners to contest 3-point shooters, Toronto came out in a 2-3 zone to, you guessed it, clog up the middle.

And it worked to perfection.

The Raptors’ undersized frontcourt had help down low, and the player’s long wingspan and nimble feet allowed them to recover to ball handlers on the perimeter. Without playing Wayne Ellington, the Heat don’t consistently have what it takes to bust this, and it showed.

Once again this was the worst quarter of the game for the Heat, as they saw their 17-point lead disappear. Not only did it vanish, but they also lost the lead entirely. Albeit just briefly near the end of the quarter, the Heat were in trouble, and the zone was a contributing factor.

Two-thirds of the Raptors closing crew hit big that quarter.

Kawhi Leanard (12 points, five rebounds) and Fred VanVleet (11 points) put the team on their backs, when their team was against the wall while playing the entire quarter. The long run of those two players paid off, with the Raptors besting the heat 37-21 that period.