Jimmy Butler out vs. Clippers. And Heat wants Tyler Herro to stay aggressive
Heat wing Jimmy Butler will miss Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers with a sprained right ankle, leaving Miami short-handed against a team that stands sixth in the Western Conference at 6-4.
And that means an even bigger offensive role for Tyler Herro, who already leads the league in bench scoring.
With Kyle Lowry missing the second game of the season because of a sprained left ankle, Herro took a season-high 28 shots in the Heat’s overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23.
With Butler not playing past the first quarter in Wednesday night’s 120-117 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers because of a sprained right ankle, Herro finished with the second-most shots he has attempted in a game this season at 22.
“Any time your best player is out, things change,” Herro said, with the Heat (7-4) set to complete its back-to-back set in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Thursday (10:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV). “I think obviously the ball was in my hands a little bit more with him out.”
Herro, 21, figures to be asked to take on a bigger offensive role, with the Heat announcing Thursday afternoon that Butler would not play against the Clippers.
Against the Lakers on Wednesday, Herro started in place of Butler to open the second half. The Heat’s usual sixth man finished the overtime defeat with 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting on threes, four rebounds and three assists in 42 minutes.
“Whatever Spo needs. Whatever this team needs, I’m willing to do,” said Herro, who entered Thursday as the NBA’s leading bench scorer with 20.9 points per game and the Heat’s leader in shot attempts with 17.3 per game. “I don’t mind coming off the bench. I don’t mind starting. Whatever I need to do.”
While Herro attempted a team-high 22 shots in Wednesday’s loss to the Lakers, the focus was on two threes he took late in overtime that could have swung the result of the game.
The first one came with nine seconds left in the extra period and the Heat trailing 119-117. Herro dribbled to his right and attempted a contested fadeaway three-pointer over Lakers guard Russell Westbrook that went off the back of the rim.
“The first one, Westbrook jammed him up,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought Westbrook had a really good defensive possession on that one. That’s part of youth. Tyler wanted to go for the kill. I don’t blame him for that. That’s what I love about the kid. There’s probably another play to make, maybe put the ball on the floor and see if something opens up if you’re driving into the paint. But Tyler wants those moments.”
Of the shot, Herro said: “I felt like it was a good look. I probably could have gotten a better one. Me and Kyle talked about probably getting me to my left hand as opposed to my right.
The second one came with 4.2 seconds left in overtime and the Heat trailing 120-117. On a play drawn up by Spoelstra during a timeout, Herro popped open with the help of screens from Dewayne Dedmon and P.J. Tucker, and Lowry found Herro on the wing for a quality three-point look. Herro bobbled the ball on the catch but still had time to take a clean shot that rimmed out.
“Tyler wants those moments, and the second one I thought he had a great look,” Spoelstra said. “He bobbled it and he still had time to get off a clean look. You’re not going to get a better one than that. And he’s a clutch player, clutch shooter, so we were OK with that.”
Of that shot attempt, Herro said: “I make that shot nine times out of 10. It is what it is. Move on, learn from it.”
Whether the result is a make or a miss, Herro’s ability to create shots for himself is important to the Heat’s offense.
“So many of the shots he takes, he works on them,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “So that when everyone thinks that’s a bad shot, no Tyler works on it. We don’t even make a face. It’s just him being creative and figuring out ways to score.”
That’s why his teammates are relentlessly on him to remain aggressive whether the roster is healthy, a key player is out, he’s playing as a reserve or starting the game.
“He’s a really good talented player,” Lowry said. “For me, it’s my job to keep his confidence high and I think our team has done a good job of continuing him to push to be more aggressive, more assertive. No mater what happens, ups and downs, he just keeps being aggressive. For me, I’ve been around a lot of young guys with potential like his. For me, it’s easy to just continue to keep positivity in his game and keep positivity in his mind.”
The Heat entered Thursday with an 0-2 record on the road trip. Miami plays at Utah on Saturday and at Oklahoma City on Monday before returning home.
INJURY REPORT
Along with Butler, the Heat will also be without Marcus Garrett (G League), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee recovery) against the Clippers.
The Clippers will have just nine available players against the Heat due to injury issues: Paul George, Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, Ivica Zubac, Eric Bledsoe, Nicolas Batum, Isaiah Hartenstein and Justise Winslow.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 12:47 PM.
