MIAMI — It wasn’t much of a battle on the scoreboard for most of the night, but Game 1 of Toronto’s two-game stop in Miami had plenty of fight elsewhere.
The previously winless, and that certainly played into it, Miami Heat handled Toronto rather easily on the court for the majority of the evening, but the talking point afterwards was the animosity that was building all night culminating in a pair of ejections in an eventual 112-109 Heat win.
In a bit of a strange one, and with the Heat in control up 21 points, Caleb Martin and Raptors’ rookie Christian Koloko got tied up under the basket. Martin wound up taking Koloko into the second row of seats behind the basket, bringing security personnel from both benches and a handful of coaches on the run to ensure nothing more occurred.,
As is usually the case with these basketball fights, nothing much transpired. There just aren’t many Serge Ibaka’s left in the league who throw first and think later.
It was unclear exactly what Koloko did to Martin, who was clearly the aggressor, but both received ejections after their altercation spilled into the crowd.
Toronto responded taking the game from down 22 to get to within three at the buzzer but never managed to re-take a lead.
But there was a potentially bigger cost to the game than just a loss for Toronto.
Scottie Barnes twice went to the locker room with injuries and did not wind up finishing the game.
Already back to the locker room for repairs earlier in the game with a left shoulder injury, Barnes returned only to roll his right ankle and when he left this time it was for good with the Miami team doctor called in to assess the damage.
Jimmy Butler had a strong all-round game for the Heat holding Pascal Siakam to 23 points and nine assists after his monster triple-double in Brooklyn while putting up a Miami high 25 of this own.
Gary Trent Jr. and Siakam led Toronto scorers with 23.
The two teams will have a day to re-assess and then go at it again on Monday night back here at the FTX Arena.
SIAKAM IS RED HOT
Anyone still not convinced Pascal Siakam has taken another step towards another level of NBA hierarchy just isn’t paying attention.
Siakam was next-level great on Friday night in Brooklyn. It was triple-double No. 4 in his career and not just any triple-double but a 37-point, 12 rebound, 11-assist triple double that had even Kyrie Irving suggesting he did it with such ease that it looks like that is just going to become his new normal.
Head coach Nick Nurse has seen Siakam make strides every year he has come back with maybe the exception of the first season after COVID. This is what he is seeing this time around.
“He is playing on both ends and he’s playing with tremendous confidence,” Nurse said. “I think you guys see he was in pretty good control of what he was doing Friday night whether he was going to take the shot, get off it early, kick it out, find the cutters, whatever it was, it didn’t look like he was straining to figure of what was happening. That, to me just looks more seasoned, more experienced and he’s rebounding as well so he’s playing a total game which is for me just great.
SOMETHING THEY ALL GO THROUGH
Rookie Christian Koloko, like many rookies, isn’t getting the benefit of the whistle much in the early going.
The native of Cameroon, who is vastly outplaying his draft day expectations already, was asked heading into the season the one thing he wanted to improve on.
His answer was foul less.
Friday night in Brooklyn he was whistled for five fouls, at least three of them very debatable. His head coach came to his defence post game.
“Christian got rookied to death tonight,” Nurse said. “He had three clean blocks, and they called a foul on every one of them. They’ve got to understand he was one of the (best) shot blockers in the nation last year and now he’s in the NBA. He’s pretty good shot blocker.”
Siakam joked it might be just a Cameroonian thing when it comes to fouls because he still feels he’s not getting the benefit of the whistle.
“I feel like a rookie still,” he said laughing at the absurdity of his own statement. “I still get calls, so I don’t know (laughs). Maybe it’s not a rookie thing.”
But Siakam knows from his own experience sometimes those calls are just a product of trying to do too much when you don’t really need to oversell so much.
“It’s tough because he’s such a presence for us out there.” Siakam said. “I try to tell him not to reach and sometimes him just being there is enough. I feel like he is great at blocking shots, and he wants to block shots. I think you got to understand sometimes just his presence alone is enough and just making the reads and see when to do that. Again, you can’t escape some of those calls. You got to get through it and see what you can do better so you don’t get those calls.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT DEPTH?
It’s still very early in season, but the Raptors bench has been somewhat underwhelming.
There are reasons for that, none bigger than the fact that neither Otto Porter Jr. nor Chris Boucher have played in the regular season to date.
Their returns will address a big part of the problem, but Nurse says the lack of impact by the bench is partly on him as well.
“My first thought is I got to give them more of a chance,” he said somehow. “The games haven’t felt like there’s a chance to get them as a unit playing together yet. As you’ve seen a couple of starters come out and they’re going right back so we’re taking a while to get to the bench guys in general. I have to give them a chance to figure it out.”
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