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.

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

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 Erik 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.

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.

Brandon Ingram led the Raptors with 28 points.

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 and then the Heat’s 19th turnover effectively ended it.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.