A Closer Look At Tyler Herro's 36-Point Game Vs. Atlanta Hawks

In what's been a rollercoaster of a season for the Miami Heat, Tyler Herro continues to show growth in a career year.

Herro had one of his better scoring games of the season with 36 points on 13 of 17 shooting. What stands out is how he achieved those results.

"Tyler was so efficient, and the best part about it, he did this entire game mostly off the ball," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I didn't run one specific play for him. He did the 36 just on the move, within the context of the game. He's learning how to manipulate when guys are really being aggressive with him. That he can be a great screener, he can play off-the-ball, he can back-cut, he can do a lot of those different things and that's great growth to see."

So much of the growth is related to taking a career-high nine 3s per game. For a while now, however, teams have been set on running him off the three-point line, both on and off the ball.

Herro has gotten downhill and some more paint touches, leading to him taking more 2s as of late. Last night, he converted on nine of his 11 twos. Seven of those twos were in the half-court, with just one coming from the mid-range. The rest were in the paint or in the restricted area, where he converted on six of seven. Additionally, Herro got to the free throw line seven times (and made six of them), while also converting on four of his six three-point attempts. So many of these twos, whether on or off-the-ball are directly correlated to the threat of his three-point shot.

This wasn't Herro's best passing game, finishing with four assists and four turnovers, with premier perimeter defender Dyson Daniels hounding him. This game wasn't about his on-the-ball playmaking, however, but more about the opportunities he created for himself and others while playing a high-usage, yet hybrid role, where he can counter over-aggressive defenders on and off the ball.

"Look, like, he did the first half of the season. It was, you know, the shot profile that we had laid out during the summer. Scouting reports get implemented," Spoelstra said. "Wiggs was out, so, you know, he had to become a guy that just generates some offense for us and a lot of those things are gonna be mid-range or wherever you can get an open crack in the defense."

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket