MIAMI (AP) – The final rebound of the game fell into Jimmy Butler’s hands just a moment or two before the final buzzer, and Bam Adebayo started celebrating for two reasons.
One, he knew Butler had just gotten a triple-double.
Two, the Miami Heat had just won his comeback game.
Tyler Herro scored 23 points, Adebayo scored 14 in his first game coming off a six-week absence following thumb surgery and the Miami Heat held off the Toronto Raptors 104-99 on Monday night.
“We’re just blessed to have a team like this,” Adebayo said. “Everybody buys in. Everybody wants to compete. And everybody wants to get the job done.”
Adebayo played 32 minutes, shooting four for 12 and grabbing nine rebounds. “You can see his energy out there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team pulled into a virtual tie with Chicago for first in the Eastern Conference. “He makes us different.”
Butler finished with 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds – the last of those coming as time was expiring, when Fred VanVleet’s three-point try missed. It was Butler’s ninth triple-double with the Heat, tying LeBron James for the most in team regular-season history.
Chris Boucher scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Toronto. VanVleet finished with 22, and Pascal Siakam added 18 points and 10 assists for the Raptors. Scottie Barnes scored 16 points, OG Anunoby scored 14 and former Heat forward Precious Achiuwa grabbed 15 rebounds for Toronto.
Siakam scored off a turnover with 1:48 left to get Toronto within 99-96, but PJ Tucker made a corner three with 20 seconds left – off Butler’s 10th assist – to help Miami hold on.
Toronto basically used a six-man rotation, with those players getting between 34 and 42 minutes. The only other Raptor who got minutes was Justin Champagnie, who played 9:07 before leaving with a dislocated finger.
“We played as tough as we could,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I didn’t see anything that was changing. We were battling from start to finish… That one could have went either way.”
The game was expected to be the first time that Heat guard Kyle Lowry faced the Raptors since leaving Toronto for Miami this past season. Lowry helped Toronto win the 2019 NBA title on his way to claiming to the unofficial moniker of GROAT – the Greatest Raptor Of All-Time.
Lowry missed the game for personal reasons.
“I wanted to see him, obviously,” Nurse said. Lowry missed a pretty good one.
There were 22 lead changes and 10 ties in the first 35 minutes, putting the teams knotted at 75-75 late in the third. Herro scored the last five points of the third quarter, then had the first bucket of the fourth to put Miami up by seven.
The Heat wouldn’t trail again. Anunoby made a three-pointer with 6:57 left to get Toronto within two, but Miami scored the next seven points in a span of 59 seconds – a basket by Adebayo, a corner three from Max Strus and a driving layup by Caleb Martin for a 98-89 lead.
