Putting Herro’s dazzling start in perspective and what changed. And Jovic, Adebayo updates
In the days before the start of the season, Heat president Pat Riley challenged his four best players to essentially become a better version of themselves.
Through 10 games, Tyler Herro is the only one meeting the challenge. And he’s doing it in a manner that’s so dynamic and dazzling that he has injected himself into the All-Star conversation and made himself Miami’s unquestioned early season MVP.
Herro’s 40-point eruption in Tuesday’s 123-121 overtime loss at Detroit was especially impactful because he was supremely efficient, delivered his best work late and nearly lifted his team to victory, only to be foiled at the end by a Pistons lob and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra calling a timeout that he didn’t possess.
Herro’s six three-pointers in the fourth quarter helped the Heat climb out of a 13-point hole and send the game to overtime.
“Those were not easy threes,” Spoelstra said.
Herro’s six-foot jumper over Malik Beasley with 1.1 seconds left gave Miami what it thought would be the winning margin, before Detroit’s Jalen Duren soared over Bam Adebayo for a game-tying dunk off an in-bounds pass, followed by a Pistons’ game-winning free throw when the Heat was called for a technical foul on Spoelstra’s blunder.
“He’s having a hell of a year,” Adebayo said of Herro. “He deserves that All Star nod. We’ve been pushing him for three or four years to get that nod. He’s healthy, playing at his own pace, making decisions, making plays.”
Herro’s 10 three-pointers tied a franchise record, now achieved twice by Herro and once by Brian Shaw (1993), Mario Chalmers (2013) and Duncan Robinson (2019).
Herro — who closed 10 of 17 on threes and 14 of 27 overall on Tuesday — fell one three short of Robinson’s team record for threes in a quarter (seven) and one point short of his career scoring high (41 in a December 2022 game against Houston).
Herro is on pace to easily set career highs in scoring average (24.9; his previous high was 20.8 last season), assists (5.3; previous high was 4.5), shooting percentage (50.9; career mark is 44.2) and three-point shooting (47.9, more than 10 points about his career average).
“His release has gotten so much quicker,” Spoelstra said. “He’s always been super ignitable. And this ignition happened in these pressure moments.”
Three weeks into the season, Herro stands in the top 50 in several meaningful categories:
▪ He’s 14th in the NBA in scoring, ahead of Jalen Brunson, Trae Young and Steph Curry, among many others.
▪ Herro, who is attempting 9.6 threes per game, is fourth in the NBA in three-point percentage among players shooting at least five threes a game. At 47.9 percent, he’s behind only Kyrie Irving, A.J. Green and Norman Powell.
His overall field-goal percentage (50.9) stands 45th overall and seventh among shooting guards.
▪ He’s 21st in the NBA’s efficiency ratings and 31st in assists per game.
▪ His 17 “clutch points” — final five minutes of games with a margin of five or fewer — are tied with Curry and Tyrese Maxey for 16th in the league.
And Herro is performing at the highest efficiency of his career after refining his shot diet to play how Spoelstra would like him to play — by taking more threes and fewer midrange shots.
Consider that only seven of Herro’s 171 shots (4.1 percent) have been nonpaint twos this season, compared to 17.7 percent last season.
Also, 33 of Herro’s 171 shots (19.3 percent) have come from within the restricted area this season. He’s shooting 54.5 percent on those shots. Last season, 11.6 percent of Herro’s shots came from within the restricted area, and he shot 51.8 percent on those attempts.
Herro also has improved his touch around the basket, shooting 55.9 percent from inside the paint this season compared to 51.8 percent last season.
“Just continuing to get better and trying to impact the game as much as I can,” he said Tuesday night. “At the end [against Detroit], I just felt like my scoring was needed and I hit a couple threes and started to feel good.”
JOVIC UPDATE
Heat forward Nikola Jovic is being fitted for a mask after sustaining a reduced septum in a bloody head-to-head collision with Detroit’s Jalen Duren in the first quarter on Tuesday. His status for Friday’s game at Indiana is undetermined.
“His nose was displaced,” Spoelstra said. “They were able to put it back.”
Jovic played 2:30 before the injury.
“It’s just a hard hit,” Jovic said. “My nose was out of place. Thank God it’s not broken. The doctor popped it back into place and that’s it.”
▪ Tuesday’s 20-point, 12-rebound effort by Adebayo marked only the third time in 10 games that the Heat’s center reached the 20-point mark. His scoring average has dipped to 15.3 per game from 20.4 and 19.3 the past two games.
“I’ve had a slow start to this season,” Adebayo said. “It has been rough trying to figure out how to help my teammates and also get my own. Not caring about missed shots. It’s part of basketball. When you lose like this, that’s the toll that really weighs on you. For us, we have to figure it out before it’s too late.”
Adebayo stands at 40.7 percent from the field, well below his 54.4 percent career average.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 10:59 AM.
