Jimmy Butler‘s absence creates a difficult situation for the Miami Heat in the playoff series against the Boston Celtics. However, Tyler Herro revealed that Butler managed to motivate him to get the better of the league leaders tonight. Taking on the hostile Celtics crowd, Butler’s words brought out the best from his teammates.
Tyler Herro led his teammates to a famous game 2 win tonight. After outclassing the NBA’s best team by far, NBA on TNT’s Chris Haynes asked Herro about Jimmy Butler’s text before the game. He said:
Just before the series JB text me to take the team and lead these guys. Just make every right play. It's not all about scoring. To pull it out you gotta make the right play. My guys showed up tonight, everybody came to play. We lost bad in game 1 and everybody responded. That's all you can ask for from a group of guys. Tyler Herro via TNT
Jimmy Butler has not traveled with his team as they were playing two games in Boston. But that did not stop the playoff clutch performer from motivating his team by sending that text message.
Rehabbing his MCL sprain back in Miami, the superstar knew the right words would help his teammates to focus on the task at hand. Despite coming up short in game 1, the Miami Heat bounced back strongly in game 2.
Herro led his teammates with 24 points. But as his illustrious teammate said, it is not all about scoring. Therefore, he dished out a career-high 14 assists, helping his teammates get into the fun. The collective effort was such, that the Celtics hostile crowd left the arena even before the game ended.
Tyler Herro has to continue the Miami Heat’s playoff hopes without Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler’s MCL sprain in his knee is an injury that usually takes at least 1 month to recover if there are no further setbacks. This means, the superstar will not be available for at least until the Conference Semi-Finals are in play. In all likelihood, the Miami Heat will not be pushing their superstar to come back and possibly impact his health in the long run.
This means the onus is on Tyler Herro and his teammates to continue pushing through. If they do manage to beat the Boston Celtics, they would then have to contend against either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic in the next round.
With fatigue and pressure mounting, only time will tell how far motivation and competitiveness can help the Miami Heat. But they sure will go down fighting until the end.
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