MIAMI — The turn of the calendar also could mean turning the page on the approach that led to the Miami Heat’s early-season offensive success.

Suddenly, setting a screen not only isn’t taboo anymore in Erik Spoelstra’s offense, it’s something his players seemingly view as a New Year’s resolution.

Against that backdrop, what has been on display the first two and a half months of the season is trending toward looking like something different the final three and a half, as the Heat currently sit at 15-15.

“We got to do something to loosen up the defense,” guard Norman Powell said, with Tuesday night’s 112-91 loss to the Toronto Raptors leaving the Heat 1-8 in their past nine games. “I mean especially when they’re denying me and not rotating and having a guy pretty much face-guarding me all game.

“We’ve got to do different things to loosen up the defense and be able to get me the ball and get into position to attack and make plays.”

Center Bam Adebayo echoed the sentiment amid his own ongoing struggles.

“I think it just gives us a slight changeup to our game,” he said of returning to a degree of pick-and-roll actions. “I wouldn’t say we’re seeing more, but a couple sprinkled here and there just keeps the defense off balance.”

The irony is that only a few short weeks ago, Adebayo was extolling the system that ran without set plays, without the constant calling up of a teammate to set a screen.

But that also was when the Heat’s scoring productivity matched what remains league-leading pace.

The problem is that all that pace has left the Heat stuck in the same range in the standings of their pacemates, with none of the top five teams in pace with winning records and only one in the top 10 with a winning record (No. 6 in pace Cleveland, at 17-14).

So perhaps pick-and-rolls over pace?

“I think more and more we’ll be able to work on it,” Powell said of pick-and-roll sets again becoming part of the Heat mix. “We just started sprinkling it in a few games, so the more and more we’re able to work on it and get the chemistry with the different guys that are in pick-and-roll, dribble handoffs and things like that, finding out what the reads are, it’ll get better.

“Yeah, we’ve just got to continue to clean it up, figure out a way to get our offense back clicking.”

Bench boost

Even in defeat, Tuesday marked somewhat of a return to productivity by the Heat bench, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. scoring 21 points and Dru Smith with 10. The outing also featured another opportunity for first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis, who closed with seven points.

“I think we looked a little bit more like ourselves in that second quarter,” Smith said of that rally, “just trying to get us back in the game, just trying to provide a little bit of that spark.”

The bench remains in flux amid the ongoing injury absences of Tyler Herro (toe), Pelle Larsson (ankle) and Nikola Jovic (elbow).

Spoelstra said progress is being made.

“I am very encouraged by the progress,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat back in action Friday on the road against the Atlanta Hawks.

To the line

Fouled yet again on Tuesday night while shooting a 3-pointer, it marked the 19th time this season that Powell has been able to draw such a call.

Powell stands second in the league in that category, behind only the 30 such fouls drawn by former Los Angeles Clippers teammate James Harden.

The Heat’s Simone Fontecchio, who also drew such a whistle Tuesday night, is fourth in the league in drawing such fouls, at 12.

The calls have been helpful for Powell, who is just 6 of 25 on 3-pointers over the past three games.