NBA Notes: Heat, Tyler Herro, Knicks, Josh Hart, Thunder

Heat

Tyler Herro needed a minute to shake off the rust. Then he needed no time at all.

In his season debut Monday night, Herro poured in 24 points and delivered the go-ahead floater inside the final minute as the Heat edged the Mavericks 106-102 at Kaseya Center.

Miami has now won five straight and eight of its past 10, and the building practically exhaled when its leading scorer finally got back on the floor.

“It was a long nine, 10 weeks,” Herro told reporters, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “Just to be out there competing again felt great.”

Herro’s return came at the perfect time. Norman Powell was out with a groin issue. The Heat were on the back end of a back-to-back.

And the game fell exactly on the date Herro and the team had quietly circled three weeks ago.

Coach Erik Spoelstra loved what he saw.

“It’s amazing he can come back with that kind of rhythm,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s only going to get better. You need as much skill and firepower as possible in this league.”

Miami needed all of it. Dallas rallied from 13 down to tie things late, led by 27 from P.J. Washington.

But with 48 seconds left, Bam Adebayo jumped a lazy inbound pass, Herro floated in the dagger, and the Heat iced it at the line.

“Bam made a hell of a steal,” Herro said. “Without him, I don’t get to make that play.”

Herro made his first All-Star team last season and returns to a completely different offense. Spoelstra scrapped the Heat’s old pick-and-roll heavy system and brought in consultant Noah LaRoche to help build a turbocharged, decision-heavy attack that barely screens at all.

It’s fast, it’s weird, and it’s working.

Herro looked like someone still recalibrating early, as he missed his first four shots. Then he caught fire. He hit nine straight and 12 of his final 14, feasting in the paint and mid-range.

“He’s going to amplify everything we’re doing,” Spoelstra said.

At 11-6 and starting to look whole, Miami feels like a team building toward something.

Knicks

The Knicks needed a defensive pulse, and they got one.

After dropping three of five and giving up 123 a night during that stretch, New York tightened the screws in Monday’s win over the Nets, holding Brooklyn to 100 points and looking a whole lot more like the team Mike Brown believes it can be.

“We can be where we need to be defensively,” Brown said Sunday, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “We’ve just got to understand what we’re trying to do.”

He put Miles McBride and Josh Hart in the starting group Monday. Hart rewarded him by winning defensive player of the game honors, per The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III.

Brown said he loved that Hart called out the team’s defensive mindset after Saturday’s loss, then actually backed it up.

“That’s what leadership is about,” Brown said.

OG Anunoby remains out with a hamstring strain, but the Knicks at least looked like themselves again.

Thunder

Second apron? Not scaring Oklahoma City.

Keith Smith of Spotrac broke down the Thunder’s cap picture and came away with a clear takeaway. Namely, the champs aren’t getting broken up anytime soon.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s super-max doesn’t even kick in until 2027–28. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are on the smallest version of the max starting next year.

And OKC has stacked team-friendly deals around its stars — several rotation players have declining contracts, and the Thunder will have flexibility if they choose to restructure the 2026–27 numbers for Isaiah Hartenstein or Luguentz Dort.

Even if the Thunder eventually have to let go of a rotation piece, the pipeline behind them is deep.

Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber all profile as rotational guys or better. And OKC could have four first-round picks in the 2026 draft.

Safe to say, the champs aren’t going anywhere.