On Wednesday evening, Tyler Herro and the Miami Heat picked up (at least by Vegas odds metrics) the most improbable playoff win of the last several NBA seasons with a road victory in Game 2 vs the Boston Celtics, the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA for that matter. Herro was excellent in the game, registering 14 assists to go along with some efficient scoring, leading a Heat offensive attack that saw the team register a franchise playoff record of 23 three-pointers on well over 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Over the course of his career, Herro has become known as somewhat of a “microwave” scorer who can get hot in a hurry, but hasn’t necessarily garnered a reputation as much of a playmaker or a facilitator for his teammates. However, due to the injury Jimmy Butler sustained during the team’s Play-In loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Herro has had to slide into that role in order to initiate offense for a Heat team that doesn’t have a lot of playmaking at their disposal.
Recently, Herro broke down the shift in his mentality that allowed him to pick apart the Boston defense in Wednesday’s Heat victory.
“We’re not gonna win with me taking a bunch of tough shots. Obviously, some tough shots. But for a majority of the game, just making the right ply. And when we need a bucket I’ll try to shoot my shot,” said Herro, per NBA insider Wes Goldberg on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.Are the Heat about to do this again?
It’s certainly possible. Of course, last year, Miami had Jimmy Butler on their team, which is always a plus, especially around this time of year.
A quick gaze at the Heat’s shooting splits from Wednesday evening’s game might lead one to believe that the Celtics simply fell victim to a fluke shooting night from some of the Heat’s role players. However, this was the fourth time over the last two seasons that Miami had shot the ball over 50 percent from beyond the arc against the Celtics, proving that they are more than capable of repeating, or at least coming close to, another such performance if Boston continues to defend the same way.
Although Boston clearly has more talent on paper, the Heat have the obvious advantage in the coaching department, as Erik Spoelstra’s pedigree and savvy was a large part of the reason why the Heat were able to get past a Joe Mazzulla staff that looked very overmatched at times in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, and once again on Wednesday.
One thing has been made very clear, and that is that the Heat are not going to simply roll over and quit, no matter how outmanned they might be from a sheer talent perspective. With Herro continuing to show increased maturity in his offensive approach, it would appear that anything is possible in what is now a best of five series with the Heat having home court advantage.
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