Turnovers, late run, Cain flashes upside, other takeaways from Heat summer loss vs. Raptors

The Miami Heat fell to the Toronto Raptors 88-78 on Friday night on UNLV’s campus in its fourth of five games at Las Vegas Summer League. Here are some observations from the Heat’s loss in Las Vegas:

▪ The Heat trailed by as many as 23 points, as the Raptors pulled ahead 65-42 with 2:46 left in the third quarter. But Miami went on a big 32-14 run to cut the deficit to five with 1:37 to play before Toronto closed it out.

▪ Quad injuries again kept Heat rookie forward Nikola Jovic and second-year center Omer Yurtseven out on Friday night. In addition, guards Marcus Garrett and Jamaree Bouyea got the night off with the Heat’s summer squad playing its third game in four nights.

Jovic, who was selected by Miami with the 27th overall pick last month, has not played since taking a knee to the quad in the Heat’s win over the Boston Celtics last Saturday to open its Las Vegas Summer League run. The 19-year-old averaged 8.5 points on 13-of-31 (41.9 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) shooting on threes and five rebounds in four summer league games, including those played in San Francisco as past of the California Classic, before missing the last three games because of his injury.

Yurtseven, who is on a fully guaranteed contract with the Heat for this upcoming season, has yet to play in summer league this year after joining the Heat in Las Vegas last week. He had been with the Turkish National team overseas for World Cup qualifying games.

Garrett is on a summer contract with the Heat and competing for an Exhibit 10, two-way or standard deal to earn a chance to continue his time in the organization’s developmental program.

Bouyea is one of three players on the summer team who the Heat has already signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, which typically represents an invite to training camp and an opportunity to compete for one of the team’s two-way deals. Center Orlando Robinson and forward Jamal Cain are the others signed by Miami to that type of contract.

▪ Cain, who signed his Exhibit 10 contract with the Heat just hours before Friday’s game, displayed his intriguing athleticism and defensive versatility early on.

The 6-7 and 191-pound Cain rolled to the basket, caught a pass from guard Kyle Allman Jr. and threw down a high-flying dunk over a Raptors defender in the first quarter. Cain also switched onto multiple Raptors players on the defensive end and was often able to stay in front of his man on the perimeter.

Cain finished Friday’s loss with six points, five rebounds and one steal in 18 minutes. But he was just 2 of 6 from the foul line.

Cain, who missed a week of summer league action because of COVID-19 protocols, entered the Heat’s matchup against the Raptors averaging 7.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 steals and one assist while shooting 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line in three summer league games.

Earlier this week, Cain said the Heat “like how I can guard multiple positions, the way I can defend, the way I can rebound, the way I can kind of be all over the floor. Just play to my strengths, trying to be athletic on the rim, trying to take advantage of mismatches and stuff like that.”

Cain played five college seasons, with the first four coming at Marquette before he finished his collegiate career at Oakland University and then went undrafted this year.

Now, Cain will work to earn a spot in the NBA as part of the Heat’s developmental program.

▪ Robinson, the Heat’s other Exhibit 10 contract player, continued his solid summer league with a double-double that included 13 points, 11 rebounds and one block in 27 minutes.

▪ Allman, who has spent the last few seasons playing overseas after going undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton in 2019, stood out with his ability to get into the paint and make things happen for himself and others off the dribble.

Allman finished Friday’s loss with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, five rebounds, four assists and one block.

This was a much-needed performance for Allman, who had struggled to find his rhythm since the team arrived in Las Vegas. He entered Friday averaging 6.3 points on 26.3 percent shooting from the field and 1.3 assists in the Heat’s first three Las Vegas Summer League games.

Allman is on a summer contract with the Heat and could opt to continue his international career, but said last week that he’s open to all possibilities.

▪ The Heat’s summer league was really sloppy on Friday, committing 19 turnovers that the Raptors turned into 27 points.

▪ Forward Haywood Highsmith, who has consistently been the Heat’s best player in summer league this year, ended Friday’s loss with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. He committed five turnovers.

▪ The Heat’s two two-way contract players struggled to make shots.

Guard Mychal Mulder finished with five points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

Guard Javonte Smart finished with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

Mulder and Smart are working to keep their two-way deals, as the Heat can waive them at any time to open a spot for another player without any consequence other than making them available for other teams to sign away.

▪ The Heat closes summer league with its fifth and final game in Las Vegas on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers at 11 p.m. on NBA TV.

The Heat is 1-3 in Las Vegas and now holds a 2-5 overall summer league record, including its three games at the California Classic in San Francisco.