MIAMI—A couple of hours before his team would be dissected, Raptors coach Dwane Casey was lauding the Miami Heat.
An “analytical dream,” he called them for their willingness to shoot three-pointers and get to the rim, eschewing the mid-range game almost completely.
A “hard-playing team,” he also mentioned because they defend with passion and aggression and don’t take possessions off.
It was a warning, and while the collected media heard it loud and clear in the bowels of the AmericanAirlines Arena, it was lost between there and the court.
The surging Heat, continuing a dramatic turnaround to a season that began disastrously, proved to be everything Casey had mentioned, hammering the Raptors 104-89 to bring to an end a tough five-game road trip for Toronto.