![]() The veterans clearly like to work with him. Herro is quite aware he needs to get better defensively.īut he’s only 20, and being surrounded by four former or current All-Stars in the Heat’s closing lineup in these playoffs has proved to be a valuable learning experience. He’s got a knack for putting the ball in the basket, and his defense is improving.” He’s really learning how to impact winning on both sides of the floor. “But he’s making good strides there as well. “Yeah, I had to take him out there at the end (of Game 3) because of (what was happening on) the other end of the court,” Spoelstra acknowledged Saturday. Ultimately, his defense will dictate how many more opportunities Spoelstra will give him to stay on the floor late in the game. His fourth-quarter minutes have also shot up from 8.7 a game prior to his arrival in the bubble to 11.3 per game in the playoffs. While leading the Heat in scoring in seeding play (17.3 points per game), he also averaged 3.8 assists - double what he averaged before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the regular season. He’s been doing a better job creating opportunities for his teammates. Herro has become more than a scorer since the NBA season was put on pause in March. “Tyler’s job is he’s got to score here and there.” “My job was to get D-Rose the ball and go out there with Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. “My first time I had an easy job,” Butler said. Herro is averaging 32.4 minutes in these playoffs. In his second go-around in 2013, he combined to score 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting in his first three playoff games while averaging 33.7 minutes per game. He’s demonstrating it right now.”īutler, who was 22 when he played in his first playoff series with Chicago in 2012, didn’t score a point and played only four minutes as a reserve. So, after a while, you don’t feel that anymore. “But as soon as you step on the floor and when you’re dribbling the ball or calling directions, playing defense, you know your focus goes towards that. ![]() I had butterflies,” Dragic recalled Saturday after scoring 18 of his 24 points in the first half and leading Miami with six assists and three steals. Dragic, though, was four years older than Herro, and in his second season in the league. I don’t think anyone gets nervous in these situations.”ĭragic, 34, remembers getting nervous in his first playoff series in 2010 when he averaged 14 minutes a game and scored a combined 24 points over his free three games as Steve Nash’s backup in Phoenix. “Like I said, whether it’s a regular-season or playoff game, I’m going to come in with the same mentality and that’s to kill and do what my team needs me to do to help get a W. “No,” he said with a bit of a surprised look on his face he was even being asked the question. Has Herro been nervous at any point in these playoffs? Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon dribbles as Tyler Herro defends during the second half of Game 3. Not only has Herro become a fourth-quarter fixture playing in the series’ most tense moments (although he did sit some in Game 3 because coach Erik Spoelstra still trusts Crowder’s defense more than the rookie’s), he also is hitting some really tough shots and creating some that are not there. Still, there’s something special about what Herro has done over his first three playoff games that can’t be ignored: He has not shown an ounce of fear or doubt. Miami’s 11 first-half 3-pointers, Bam Adebayo’s All-Star rebounding, defense and screen-setting and 52 free throw attempts - led by Butler’s 17-of-20 shooting from the stripe - was ultimately what helped the Heat survive Indiana’s second-half surge. The Heat didn’t win Game 3 Saturday because Herro carried them there. More than anything, the kid just works, and he wants to be coached and he listens. He knows what he means to the team, to the organization. He knows what he’s supposed to do when he’s out there on the floor. “That’s what he does,” Butler said after leading the Heat with 27 points in a 124-115 Game 3 victory that has Miami on the doorstep of a first-round series sweep. How does a 20-year-old make a pressure-packed, playoff moment look so easy? Heat All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler will tell you, “that’s just who (Herro) is.” The result looked the same: nothing but net. It looked like something Dwyane Wade had done 1,000 times in a Heat uniform before Herro ever stepped on an NBA court. Then Herro rose for a step-back 22-footer with two defenders in his face. So he countered to his left, dribbling the ball behind his back before taking a step forward to create space where there wasn’t any. Herro dribbled right and was cut off by two Pacers defenders.
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