No, not optimal.

Coming off a game when they arguably were at their worst, the Miami Heat faced the challenge of responding to that adversity in the void of their best player.

It went as expected.

In a loss that makes the play-in tournament a more likely postseason result, where one or two losses mean the end of a season, the Heat fell flat in the absence of Jimmy Butler in a 106-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.

With Butler a midday scratch due to neck pain, the Heat essentially were left with their heads on a swivel, outscored 62-36 in the paint.

After losing by 29 Saturday night to the Brooklyn Nets at Miami-Dade Arena, the Heat played out almost the same script – dynamic at the start in building an early double-double lead and then fizzling to the finish from there.

Tyler Herro helped compensate for Butler’s absence with 33 points, with Bam Adebayo adding 21 points and 12 rebounds, the Heat otherwise struggling to create offense against the length of the Raptors.

Toronto, by contrast, got ample scoring, with Pascal Siakam scoring 26, O.G. Anunoby 22 and Scottie Barnes 22. Former Heat forward Precious Achiuwa added 12 points and nine rebounds for Toronto.

The Heat, who have lost three of their past five, completed the back-to-back road set with a Wendesday night game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday’s game:

1. Terrible threes: The Heat went up 10 early but trailed 24-23 at the end of the opening period and 53-47 at halftime, even with Toronto 1 of 16 on 3-pointers over the first two periods.

From there, the game took on a similar look to Saturday night’s 129-100 home loss to the Nets, when the Heat were outscored 39-18 in the third period. This time the Heat went down 19 in the third and trailed 85-67 going into fourth.

The Heat then drew within 10 with 3:25 to play, but that is when the rally ended.

2. The playoff race: The loss not only put a dent in the Heat’s hope of a top-six seed and automatic ticket into the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs, but now also has the Heat with an eye in their rearview mirror.

With the loss, the Heat fell a half-game beyond the No. 6 Nets, with the Nets owning that head-to-head tiebreaker.

Further, it dropped the Heat three games behind the No. 5 Knicks. With a victory Wednesday, New York would clinch that tiebreaker.

Tuesday’s victory by the Raptors moved them within 2 1/2 games of the Heat for the No. 7 seed in the East, clinching the tiebreaker for Toronto, which took the season series 3-1. The No. 7 seed hosts the No. 8 seed in the opening game of the play-in round, with that winner securing the No. 7 playoff seed.

3. The replacements: In the void of Butler, Herro and Adebayo were given the keys to the offense.

It proved to be a mixed bag.

Herro stood as the face of the Heat’s 3-point shooting, creating his own space, at 5 of 8 from beyond the arc through three quarters, when the remainder of his teammates were 3 of 16.

Adebayo, by contrast, never could truly gain his footing against the Raptors’ length, at 3 of 13 from the field going into the fourth.

4. The remix: With Butler out, it moved Victor Oladipo from out of the rotation into the starting mix for just the second time this season. Oladipo had been held out of the previous three games.

There nearly was another lineup alteration required, with starting point guard Gabe Vincent added to the injury report pregame due to back spasms. Vincent’s status was uncertain until pregame warmups were completed.

It wound up as the Heat’s 23rd starting lineup of the season. The only other time Oladipo started this season was on Dec. 20 against the Chicago Bulls in a lineup with Adebayo, Herro, Haywood Highsmith and Max Strus.

5. The remix, too: Cody Zeller slid back in as backup center, in his first game back since breaking his nose March 11 in the overtime road loss to the Orlando Magic.

Zeller played in a mask, entering at the start of the second period and cloning with four points, three rebounds and two fouls in his initial 4:35 stint.

“It’s just kind of uncomfortable,” he said. “It kind of traps the heat. It gets sweaty and everything else. But the one that I have is very custom, so you can actually see fairly well out of it. It’s as good as it can be.”

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