Why Heat’s Tyler Herro called his season ‘awkward’

Thursday night showcases the Miami Heat facing the Toronto Raptors in a rematch from Tuesday’s painful loss, 121-95, as the team is locked in the play-in tournament for a fourth straight season. With the Heat focused on the postseason, one part of the team’s season that has been up-and-down has been Tyler Herro, as he reflects on his year.

There’s no denying how tumultuous a seventh year it’s been for Herro as he’s missed 48 games this season due to a myriad of injuries, including missing the first 17 contests with an offseason ankle surgery. Now that he’s playing more consistently, he would be asked where he is at mentally or physically in the final outings of his seventh regular season.

He would say, “I’m here,’ while admitting it’s been “weird” and “awkward.”

“It’s been a long, weird, awkward season,” Herro said, according to The Miami Herald. “Different injuries, in and out. I started the season out, obviously, for kind of like an indefinite time, not really knowing when I was coming back. So it’s just like taking it one step at a time, one day at a time, and one game at a time.”

Heat’s Tyler Herro on what’s been “extremely tough.”

This season has been challenging for Herro; last season was a career-best not just with his statistics, but because it was his healthiest, earning his first All-Star bid. While this year has tested Herro, he would still say his mindset is better than what it was when he was younger, though not being available has been “extremely tough.”

Along with Bam Adebayo, Herro is all too familiar with the play-in tournament, as it’ll be the fourth straight year in the tourney, which has been disappointing, but he now has other goals.

“We’ve got to get in the playoffs and win a playoff series…Getting into the playoffs is obviously our goal. But I feel like I’ve done enough in the play-in. I need to get out of the play-in,” Herro said.

At any rate, Miami has three games left in the season ahead of Thursday’s contest against the Raptors.