Nikola Jovic was just trying to make the most of his opportunity. The Miami Heat were shorthanded, with key players like Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson sidelined with injuries. But what he didn’t expect was to meet the same fate. A scary moment unfolded in the first quarter when Jovic, after being on the floor for 12 seconds, came crashing down hard. He was soon ruled out for the rest of the game, walking off with a brace on and a surprisingly big smile on his face.

After the game, coach Erik Spoelstra addressed Jovic’s calm reaction to everything.

“Crazy Serbian, I couldn’t believe he was smiling,” Spoelstra said. “He was laughing when we all went up to him. I think that was his way of just lightening. He probably saw the look in all of our faces. It was a hard fall. Hopefully, it looks like we dodged a bullet on that one.”

Spoelstra added that Jovic “came down really hard and split his elbow open. So it was bleeding.”

“The scan came back negative, which is a good thing, but that will be sore for a while,” the coach said. “We are getting an MRI tomorrow to make sure there wasn’t anything else that we saw. But the bones are fine. He lost all feeling in his hand because it was a massive stinger.”

The incident happened with 3:38 left in the first quarter. Jovic pushed the break in transition after a pass from Jaime Jaquez Jr. and tried to finish strong at the rim. Raptors rookie Collin Murray-Boyles met him in the air, forcing Jovic to adjust mid-flight. It threw him off balance, and he came down awkwardly.

Nikola Jovic stayed down for several moments, prompting immediate concern as the Heat medical staff rushed in and even brought out a stretcher.

Eventually, Nikola Jovic got up on his own. With a large brace around his shoulder area, he walked off the court to a standing ovation, showing toughness despite the pain.

More updates are expected, but for now, it’s fair to assume Jovic could miss the next game as the team plays it safe.

Heat’s late struggles extend losing streak to five

The Heat’s rough stretch continued Monday night, as they fell 106-96 to the Raptors at Kaseya Center. Jaquez Jr. carried the second unit, while Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell led the scoring charge. After a quiet first quarter, Powell caught fire early in the second, scoring eight points in three minutes. Adebayo and Powell finished with 20 points each, but it wasn’t enough.

The visitors led 23-22 after the first before the Heat grabbed a 52-46 halftime lead. The game stayed tight through three quarters. Spoelstra’s team went into the fourth up 77-74 after closing the third on a 9-2 run. But that’s where things unraveled…

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The Raptors opened the final quarter with a 17-4 burst, jumping to a 91-81 lead with 7:31 left.

From that point on, the home team was left chasing. They struggled to score quickly or get easy points, especially in transition. The Raptors’ size made it hard for them to score, and when the game got tighter, they still couldn’t find easy points.

The Heat, without Herro today, did make one last push, cutting the deficit to 100-96 with 1:28 remaining on two Powell free throws.

But a failure to get stops, followed by the Heat’s 19th turnover, sealed the loss. Both teams were sloppy early, committing 11 turnovers each in the first half, and neither found much success in the paint, finishing with just 10 paint points apiece.

The Raptors snapped their four-game skid and are now the third seed in the East.