MIAMI — The payoff for five days off? A fifth straight loss.

Whether playing games in bunches or otherwise, it is not going well for the Miami Heat, this time falling 106-96 Monday night to the Toronto Raptors at Kaseya Center. It was the first time this season the Heat failed to reach 100.

Still without a victory since Dec. 1, the Heat this time could not overcome another injury absence from guard Tyler Herro.

“Seasons get like this,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “and you just have to stay together and get back to work.”

Factor in an ugly early tumble that left Heat forward Nikola Jovic with an elbow injury and the return from the five-day break seemingly only pushed Spoelstra’s team further toward a breaking point.

As has been the case in recent games, the offense again sputtered, much of the early-season energy missing.

“They made more plays in the moments of truth than we did,” Spoelstra said.

So while the Raptors snapped their four-game losing streak, the Heat’s moved to five.

Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 20 points and 10 rebounds, with Norman Powell also scoring 20. Otherwise, not nearly enough amid Herro’s absence.

“Coach won’t rest, the coaching staff won’t rest until we get this right,” Powell said. “We’re not going to quit. All of us have to be better.”

Brandon Ingram led the Raptors with 28 points.

Adebayo said the concern should be with the defense.

“It’s the defensive end I’m really worried about,” he said. “Even if you don’t score 140, we score 96, we can still win.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Raptors led 23-22 after the first period, with the Heat then moving to a 52-46 halftime lead. From there, the Heat went into the fourth quarter up 77-74.

The Raptors swiftly moved to a 91-81 lead with 7:31 to play, putting the Heat in catch-up mode from that stage, as the offense stalled.

From there, the Heat closed within 100-96 with 1:28 to play on a pair of Powell free throws, but the inability to get a defensive stop on the other end and then the Heat’s 19th turnover effectively ended it.

“It’s just about in those moments of truth, finding a way to win those moments,” Spoelstra said of where and how the Heat came up short.

2. No Herro: Having returned from a two-game absence in last Tuesday night’s NBA Cup loss in Orlando, Herro again was listed as out with a toe contusion, his third game missed with the ailment since Dec. 5. That is in addition to the 17 games he missed at the start of the season after September ankle surgery.

“He and the trainers met and he just didn’t feel right,” Spoelstra said, “and they didn’t feel right about it.”

With guard Pelle Larsson out due to an ankle sprain, it resulted in the first Heat start for Simone Fontecchio, in an opening lineup rounded out by Adebayo, Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Davin Mitchell.

That gave the Heat their 11th lineup in their 26 games.

3. Jovic lost: Forward Nikola Jovic left in the first period with his right arm in a protective brace after a hard fall.

The Heat listed it as an elbow injury, ruling him out for the night.

“Hopefully it looks like we dodged a bullet on that one,” Spoelstra said. “The bones are fine. He lost all feeling in his hand, because it was a massive stinger.”

Jovic, who had been held out of the rotation in two of the previous three games, got the opportunity for the playing time with Herro and Larsson sidelined.

Jovic entered Monday night’s game with 3:50 to play in the opening period and was forced out 12 seconds later.

Because Jovic was unable to shoot the free throws from the foul on Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles, the Raptors were allowed to select the replacement shooter. They selected seldom-used forward Keshad Johnson, who entered 7 of 11 from the line, making both replacement free throws.

Johnson then remained in the game, taking the minutes that would have gone to Jovic.

A stretcher initially was brought to the court, with Jovic instead able to walk off the court while assisted.

“We wish we could have got that win for him,” Adebayo said.

4. Still struggling: For the first time in a week, Fontecchio hit a shot, after going 0 for 5 in last week’s loss in Orlando.

But the struggles remain ongoing, with Fontecchio closing 1 of 5 from the field Monday night, including 1 of 4 from beyond the arc.

The Heat closed 9 of 31 from beyond the arc, compared to the Raptors’ 16 of 40.

“Right now,” Powell said, “I think the offense is slow.

“But, again, it didn’t have to be a pretty game. It wasn’t aesthetically a pretty game for them, either. We held them to low 100s. It was in the 90s going down the stretch, but they were able to make more plays.”

5. Up next: It’s now out on the road for a three-game trip for the Heat after a two-day break, opening with a back-to-back set on Thursday and Friday nights against the Brooklyn Nets and then the Boston Celtics, with the trip concluding Sunday against the New York Knicks.

The Heat’s next home game also will be against the Raptors, on Dec. 23.