Tyler Herro at center of scuffle and Heat’s quality win over Rockets: ‘I’d get mad, too’
The Miami Heat was already on the way to one of its most impressive wins of the season on Sunday. But the night will be remembered for what happened in the final seconds of the game after the Heat had already taken control.
Without Jimmy Butler (return to competition reconditioning) and Duncan Robinson (right foot inflammation), the Heat still found itself ahead by five points with 35.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter on the second night of a back-to-back set against a quality Houston Rockets team that holds the third-best record in the Western Conference.
That’s when the defining moment of the night happened, as Rockets forward Amen Thompson and Heat guard Tyler Herro sparked a melee that led to six ejections before the Heat escaped with a gutsy 104-100 road victory.
“Just two competitors going at it, playing basketball,” Herro said, downplaying the incident.
Thompson and Herro went at it after jostling for position ahead of an inbounds pass before things got heated.
Thompson and Herro exchanged words and got in each other’s faces before Thompson grabbed Herro’s jersey and threw him down to the court. Players and coaches from the Heat and Rockets immediately rushed over, as a brief skirmish unfolded.
“I didn’t see it live, but I rewatched it,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said after the game. “And they were in each other’s face, bumping chest a little bit, and one guy is stronger than the other.”
It took officials, coaches, staff members and even arena security to diffuse the situation, with Herro smiling and clapping at Thompson while they were both being held back.
“I don’t think anything during the course of the game would indicate that it would go to that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the team now back in Miami to begin a three-game homestand on Wednesday against the New Orleans Pelicans. “But it just shows you how competitive things are in both conferences. They’re fighting for their spot; we’re fighting for our spot, our place in our conference.”
As a result of the scuffle, Herro and Terry Rozier were ejected for the Heat. Rozier was ejected after immediately jumping in to defend Herro, blaming his “natural instincts” and making clear “I ain’t trying to hurt nobody.”
“It’s who I am,” Rozier added after the game. “But I’ve got a lot of love for Tyler, man, just a great dude and we’ve got to protect him. So natural instincts.”
For the Rockets, Jalen Green and Thompson were ejected. Udoka and assistant coach Ben Sullivan were also ejected.
The NBA will now investigate the incident to decide whether fines and/or suspensions should be handed out to those involved.
“During the dead ball, Thompson grabs the jersey and body slams Herro. Herro responds and they are both ejected for fighting fouls,” Crew chief Marc Davis said in an NBA officiating pool report after the game when asked to explain the ejections. “Green is ejected as his actions escalated the altercation. Rozier as well is ejected as his actions were escalators to the altercation. Coach Sullivan is assessed a technical foul and ejected for his unsportsmanlike comments directed at me as I was attempting to redirect [Alperen] Sengun.”
The good news for the Heat is it doesn’t appear that any players who weren’t in the game at the time of the scuffle left the bench, which can lead to an automatic suspension.
“We’ve gone through that and [Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn] was on top of it,” Spoelstra said. “Emotions get high. We have a bunch of young guys on the bench. They want to get out there. And Quinny and the staff, [Heat assistant coach Malik Allen], handled that.”
Despite being thrown to the ground and thrown out of the game, Herro was the star of the night.
Herro continued to add to his strong case to make his first NBA All-Star Game this season, leading the Heat to Sunday’s win with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 shooting on threes, six rebounds and nine assists.
“Just a physical game. I guess that’s what happens when someone is scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” Herro said after being at the center of the late-game altercation. “I’d get mad, too.”
In his sixth NBA season, Herro is averaging career highs in points (24 per game), rebounds (5.7) and assists (5.2). He’s also shooting a career-best 47.6 percent from the field and a career-best 41 percent from three-point range on a career-high 9.6 three-point attempts per game while playing in each of the Heat’s first 30 games this season.
Herro, who turns 25 on Jan. 20, is one of only two players in the league who entered Monday averaging at least 24 points, five rebounds and five assists per game while also shooting 45 percent or better from the field and 40 percent or better from behind the arc. The only other player in the league currently meeting those thresholds is three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
“When you got a guy out there doing whatever he wants, it can get frustrating when you’re trying to impact winning and he has 27, six and nine,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said, blaming Sunday’s incident on Herro’s big night against the Rockets’ highly ranked defense. “So, when you got a guy like that just out there doing whatever he wants, it can get frustrating for the other team.”
Spoelstra lamented the fact that the dust-up would be the main talking point from Sunday’s game and not the Heat’s defensive effort. Miami limited Houston to 18 points on 6-of-25 (24 percent) shooting from the field in the fourth quarter, improving to 9-0 this season when holding its opponent to 100 points or fewer.
“It’s a shame that that’ll be the discussion of this game,” Spoelstra said. “Because really it was more about the competitive character that our guys brought. And that toughness, when we were down 12, 14 in the second half, to be able to just battle and stay with it, and find different ways to impact the game and then put ourselves in a position to win. The defense was outstanding.”
The Heat returns home after a winning 2-1 trip to reach the 30-game mark at 16-14.
The Heat now has an opportunity to go on a run after hovering around .500 through the first two months of the season, as six of its next seven games are against teams with losing records.
The Heat also expects to get Butler back for its next game on Wednesday against the Pelicans, as he’s been ramping up in recent days at Kaseya Center while the team was on the road. Butler, who has been at the center of trade speculation this month, has missed the last five games after battling a flu-like illness but is expected to take part in the Heat’s practice Tuesday.
“That’s a really good team we just beat,” Herro said after the Heat’s win over the Rockets. “They’re top two, three in the West, very good defense, they got a bunch of young athletic guys that can really play. So, that’s a good win for us. I think that’s a stepping-stone. ... I like how it’s going. We just got to continue to keep getting better, try to really commit to having a 48-minute game, where we can try to be as stable as possible throughout the whole game.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 10:15 AM.
