Winderman’s view: At this point, after another loss, Tyler Herro left looking for a friend

TORONTO – Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 119-116  loss to the Toronto Raptors:

– There have been times in recent seasons when the onus on Jimmy Butler seemed overwhelming.

– There have been times when that same could be said the past few years with Bam Adebayo, and his bucketload of responsibilities on both ends.

– And then you have a night like this and wonder if, maybe, Tyler Herro could get a bit of help.

– Herro carried the Heat in the first half.

– Was active while others were anemic.

– And then in the third period, a driving layup . . . that wasn’t.

– Because of basket interference on Adebayo.

– And a pinpoint pass for a 3-pointer . . . that wasn’t

– As Duncan Robinson bobbled the ball out of bounds.

– This team, of course, wasn’t built this way.

–  But for Adebayo, scoring has been an ongoing struggle.

– And for Butler, it’s just not an every-night thing anymore.

– Instead, Herro heroics have defined the best of the Heat to this stage.

– As he returns Monday to Boston, where he last season produced a tour de force in the Heat’s lone playoff win.

– In October, who had Herro as the Heat’s leading All-Star candidate?

– In December, who doesn’t?

– The concern is he also is the only current candidate.

– All or nothing.

– With his late 3-point miss in this one costly.

– But also the player who got the Heat into that position.

– The Heat opened for a sixth consecutive game with a lineup of Herro, Adebayo, Butler, Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.

– Entering 4-1 with that lineup.

– Robinson was called for his second foul 1:19 into the game.

– With the Heat’s options somewhat limited, with Nikola Jovic (ankle) and Josh Richardson (illness) not with the team.

– The Heat were without rookie center Kel’el Ware, with the first-round pick out of Indiana sidelined by right foot tendinitis.

– Kevin Love and Pelle Larsson entered together in the Heat’s first substitution.

– Terry Rozier followed.

– Then Jaime Jaquez Jr.

–  With Alec Burks, at the start of the second quarter, making it 10 deep for the Heat.

– That left Thomas Bryant and Dru Smith as the only available players out of the mix.

– Adebayo’s first conversion from the foul line moved him past Rony Seikaly and into fourth on the Heat all-time list.

– The double-double was the 201st of Adebayo’s career. Only Rony Seikaly (221) and Alonzo Mourning (205) have had more with the Heat.

– The Heat were coming off Friday night’s 54 3-point attempts in their home victory over the Raptors.

– “We just want to have a profile that makes sense, the most sense for our team,” coach Erik Spoelstra said pregame.

– But Spoelstra also stressed it also cannot just be 3-pointers.

– “We’ve said all along it’s not one being more important than the other,” he said. “We also have to be aggressive. We also have to have our paint attacks.”

– This time the 3-point volume was way down.

– Raptors coach Darko Rajakovi? for the second consecutive game spoke pregame about the Heat’s zone defense.

– Miami is a team that plays zone quite a bit,” he said. “They play more than other teams, they found over the years success with that zone.”

– So the Raptors got R.J. Barrett into the heart of the Heat defense and the former Knick went to work from there.

– The game concluded the second of the three times the Heat will face the same opponent in consecutive games, with the Heat defeating the Raptors 121-111 Friday night at Kaseya Center.

– The Heat split the first such pairing against the Pacers, winning the first and losing the second, both in Indiana.

– The final such occurrence will be at Atlanta on Feb. 24 and home against the Hawks on Feb. 26.

– The game also opened the Heat’s third back-to-back set of the season, to conclude Monday night at TD Garden against the Celtics.

– The Heat have split their previous two back-to-back sets, with a total of 15 this season.

– Meanwhile, down in the G League, Heat two-way players Keshad Johnson and Josh Christopher both had their moments in a Sunday victory over the Pistons’ affiliate in Detroit.

– Johnson, who closed with 28 points in that Sioux Falls Skyforce victory over the Motor City Cruise, is expected to join the Heat for Monday night’s game in Boston.

– Christopher had 22 points in that 133-110 Skyforce victory.

– The Skyforce also got 25 points from Heat camp invitee Nassir Little as well as 11 assists from Heat summer and camp standout Isaiah Stevens. Little and Stevens are free to be signed by any NBA team.