Tyler Herro shines, and other takeaways from the new-look Heat’s win to open the preseason
The first look at the Miami Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry will have to wait, but the preseason opener still offered a glimpse at the potential of this new-look roster.
Tyler Herro scored points in bunches from all over the court, Lowry pushed the pace and teamed up with Adebayo for highlight-worthy alley-oops, P.J. Tucker hit corner threes and Duncan Robinson provided spacing with his elite outside shooting.
With Butler given the night off for rest, the revamped Heat defeated the Atlanta Hawks 125-99 in its preseason opener on Monday night at FTX Arena. With most of the regulars playing in the first half, Miami shot 60 percent from the field and 13 of 21 on threes with the help of 18 assists during the first two quarters.
“We’ve been getting after it in training camp, so we were excited to go up against somebody else,” Robinson said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be perfect. We’re still working different things out. But we wanted to really emphasize competing and sharing the ball. I thought we did both of those really well in stretches.”
Lowry, who was acquired this offseason through a sign-and-trade with Toronto Raptors, recorded five points, four rebounds and seven assists in 15 minutes in his first game action in a Heat uniform. He was given the second half off.
Adebayo finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and five rebounds in 14 minutes. He also did not play in the second half.
Robinson shot 4 of 6 from three-point range to contribute 13 points in 22 minutes.
But Herro was the Heat’s most impressive player on Monday. He scored 26 points, to go along with four rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes.
It wasn’t a perfect night for the Heat, though. Tucker didn’t play in the second half because of a strained right groin.
The Hawks lost star guard Trae Young early in the third quarter due to a right quad contusion. Young ended the night with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
The Heat shot an efficient 21 of 41 (51.2 percent) from three-point range in the victory.
The Heat continues the preseason Thursday against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s preseason opener:
Even with Butler out, Monday seemed like a preview of what the Heat’s rotation could look like when the real games begin.
Miami used a starting lineup of Lowry, Herro, Robinson, Tucker and Adebayo in the preseason opener. Herro started in place of Butler, with Monday essentially confirming the expected that Miami plans to open the regular season with a starting lineup of Lowry, Butler, Robinson, Tucker and Adebayo.
The first four players off the bench in the first quarter were Dewayne Dedmon, Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Markieff Morris.
Including Butler, that’s expected to the Heat’s first 10 this season. The fact that coach Erik Spoelstra was able to get to it immediately to begin the preseason shows just how much clarity there is already surrounding the rotation and roles.
The Heat went 10 deep in the first half, with two-way contract wing Caleb Martin serving as the fifth player used off the bench on Monday. Martin gave Miami solid minutes off the bench, finishing with 11 points, two rebounds, three assists, one steal and three blocks in 19 minutes.
Herro said during training camp that he’s ready to “wake a lot of people up” this season. He’s off to a strong start.
After an up-and-down sophomore NBA season for Herro, he worked to make the most of his first full NBA offseason by adding “10-plus pounds of muscle” and continuing to round out his game this past summer.
Herro, who’s still the youngest player on the Heat’s roster at 21 years old, was the star of night in the preseason opener.
Herro scored 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line.
“It just happened organically,” Herro said of making a statement in the preseason opener. “It’s the first game. We got a long way to go. I haven’t done anything yet.”
The performance began with a 16-point first quarter. Herro scored 14 consecutive points for the Heat in the opening period.
At halftime, Herro had 20 points. He scored at least 20 in only one half last season, but did it in his first preseason game of his third NBA season.
While Herro is not expected to be a starter when the Heat has its full complement of rotation players available, he’ll be an important piece as the sixth man. If Miami can get Monday’s version of Herro consistently, it elevates the ceiling of this Heat roster.
“He has had a great offseason and summer of work,” Spoelstra said. “It started pretty quickly right after the Milwaukee series. Tyler started putting time in the weight room and spent a great deal of time just honing his skills.”
Unfortunately for the Heat, the preseason opener included an injury to a rotation player.
Tucker, 36, did not play in the second half because of a strained groin. Before exiting the contest, he scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in 13 first-half minutes.
Spoelstra mentioned after the game that Tucker “says he’s fine. But I always wait until the next day to see how guys feel.”
Considering that Tucker is expected to start at power forward, this will be an injury to monitor.
With 17 of the Heat’s 20 players available, Spoelstra played most of the roster.
Along with Butler, guard Victor Oladipo (still recovering from knee surgery) and Udonis Haslem (personal reasons) were not available to play in the preseason opener.
But 15 of the 17 available Heat players got into Monday’s game, including two-way contract guard Marcus Garrett, forward KZ Okpala and center Omer Yurtseven. DJ Stewart and Micah Potter, both signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, were the only ones who did not play.
Okpala shot 2 of 5 on threes to score six points in 17 minutes. Yurtseven tallied four points and eight rebounds, but committed three turnovers in 14 minutes.
FTX Arena operated at its full capacity of 19,600 on Monday for the first time since March 11, 2020, but the fan experience still wasn’t completely normal due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
All guests, including those fully vaccinated, over 2 years old are required to wear a mask for Heat home games to begin this season and there’s a league-mandated testing/vaccination requirement for those seated within 15 feet of the court.
But Monday represented a big step forward, as the Heat began last season in December with no fans in attendance for home games amid the pandemic before allowing a limited crowd to attend in late January. Miami then slowly increased capacity throughout the season and eventually allowed up to 17,000 fans to attend games during its first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks in May.
The announced attendance at FTX Arena on Monday: a sellout of 19,600.
“It did,” Spoelstra said when asked if Monday’s environment felt close to normal. “Even right next to our bench, there were front row seats that were filled and we hadn’t had that for a year in a half. Right behind the bench, all of that felt the way it used to feel with people looking in on your huddle. It’s all good. I love the direction it’s going.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 9:54 PM.
