Miami Heat vs Toronto Raptors: Keys, Players to Watch, And Prediction

Coming of a defeat to the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat will travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors Tuesday evening. The Heat looking for revenge, as the last time these two teams met was a three-overtime thriller in Miami, leading to a, 124-120, victory for the Raptors.

Miami is also heading into this game looking to recapture first place in the Eastern Conference from the Chicago Bulls, as they are now one game behind.

Players To Watch

With Jimmy Butler returning to the lineup, the Miami Heat will be given a much-needed boost to their offense and defensive ends. Butler was out for the last game with an ankle injury that he suffered in the three-overtime game against the Raptors on Saturday.

Bam Adebayo will be one of the key pieces for the Miami Heat, as he finished his last game against the Celtics with 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists, though only on 11 field goal attempts. He will need to control the paint, both on offense and defense if Miami is going to stay in the game for the long run.

Max Strus will be another player to watch for, as he led the team in scoring against the Celtics. He finished with 27 points and went 9-17 from behind the three-point arc. He will need to carry this performance over into the Toronto game, especially if Duncan Robinson struggles again.

The Miami Heat have another tough game on Tuesday, just a night after being demolished in Boston. Thankfully, Jimmy Butler will suit up in Toronto.

You need Robinson, Tyler Herro, and Gabe Vincent to all step up tonight, giving them much-needed additional three-point shooting, scoring, and all while you hope that they can limit the number of turnovers.

These players need to remain focused and play consistently Tuesday if they want to keep up with the Toronto Raptors’ quick pace style of offense and defense.

Keys To The Game

1. Limit The Turnovers: Miami had a total of 19 turnovers in the last game against the Boston Celtics. They need to control the ball and limit their turnovers, otherwise, it will be a runaway for the Raptors.

2. Limit The Paint Points: The Heat also allowed 40 points to be scored inside the paint against the Celtics. They need to make sure they are not allowing easy buckets to come in the painted area and keep Toronto out of there as much as possible.

3. Players Need To Step Up: Though with Jimmy Butler back in the lineup, others will still have to step up. The only question is who that or those players might be.

Prediction 

Miami is missing a key guy and guys if P.J. Tucker can’t go again, while they don’t exactly have the best record when it comes to back-to-back games this season. Miami will need to play a complete game and force mistakes down the stretch to keep them in this one.

While it’s hard to go here right now and after the Boston massacre, take Miami winning the revenge game against the Toronto Raptors but in a close one again, 102-99.