Cote: After Heat falls to Cavs in Game 1, it’s on Tyler Herro to prove he’s star Miami needs | Opinion
This is Tyler Herro’s big shot. His audition, really. We have seen him in a Miami Heat uniform six seasons now but he’s still only 25, and still trying to show it, to prove it.
Can you win big if he is your best player? Can he carry a team? Is he worth the mega-contract extension?
It looked like a “yes” as he scored 38 and 30 points in two play-in road wins that got Miami into the playoffs proper as a No. 8 seed playing at No. 1 Cleveland.
It was something else Sunday night in Game 1 of the NBA first round as Herro struggled in a 121-100 Heat loss. He scored 21 but struggled most of the night against a Cavaliers defense underregarded simply because Cleveland’s powerful offense deservedly gets the attention. That attack overwhelmed Miami’s transition defense at times in Game 1.
Herro got outperformed Sunday by Cavs stars Donovan Mitchell with 30 points, out-of-nowhere Ty Jerome with 28 off the bench and Darius Garland with 27. Many of Jerome’s points came with Herro defending.
“They were denying me the ball. Making sure I always had a body on me,” Herro said. “They were a lot more physical than us. We know what we have to do to clean it up.”
Miami hung tough as long as it was able, trailing only 98-90 with 7:26 remaining and by as few as five points before the Cavs ran away on a 13-4 run featuring 10 straight points by Jerome, playing in his first career playoff game.
Miami and coach Erik Spoelstra had better have answers Wednesday night in Game 2 back in Ohio to avoid carrying a 2-0 series hole back to South Florida. One thought: Miami was late Sunday deploying its zone defense. That could be answer to the Cavs’ mighty offense. The Heat certainly had none Sunday.
“We’ll get to work and see hat we can maximize,” Spoelstra said afterward. “IN the playoffs you face dynamic offenses. We have to figure out how to handle that.”
Herro got drafted in 2019 and it was storybook perfect: Pat Riley just got a guy whose last name sounded like “hero.” His NBA climb has been steady. All-rookie second team. Sixth Man of the Year in ‘22. His first All-Star selection this season. But he has never been No. 1 in Miami, never been the star.
He is now, by default, in this postseason. When star Jimmy Butler quit on the Heat, got suspended multiple times, pouted his way into a trade, Herro was it. Is it. Bam Adebayo is still a defensive force but had a down season offensively and might have seen his ceiling. Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell, who arrived in the trade, are good players but not No. 1s.
That baton is Herro’s, for now.
And how he handles it the rest of this series and postseason will determine how desperate Riley and Miami are this offseason to make big moves in free agency or by trade.
A 37-45 regular season hijacked by the Butler drama disappointed.
The two play-in road wins offered encourage.
Now we see what’s next. For Spoelstra’s ability to adjust. For Herro’s ability to be the star Miami needs right now. And for Riley’s plans this offseason.
All knew the odds here were long.
In 22 years of playoffs since the first round became best-of-7 in 2003, the No. 8 seed has advanced past the No. 1 seed only three times, and not since 2016.
Miami went from the play-in round to the NBA Finals before losing in 2023, but matching that feat again would be Herculean, with top-seeded Cleveland and reigning champion Boston among roadblocks in the way.
The Cavs started 15-0 and went wire to wire atop the East, but also finished on an 8-7 stagger. All the pressure is on Cleveland. Miami at this point is playing with house money.
Still, the Cavaliers look unstoppable, at least in this round.
“We did it the hard way. We’re battle-tested,” the Heat’s Haywood Highsmith saiid entering this game. “We can go anywhere and beat anybody. We fought to get into the playoffs. Now that we’re in, we’re not going to go out soft.”
That remains to be seen.
The Heat has a lot going for it. Not the least of which are Spoelstra’s ingenuity, a defense that sparkled in the two play-in games, and everytbhing that steels a team that endures what the Heat did this year with the midseason volcano eruption caused by Butler.
But none of that will beat the No. 1 team in the East.
The Heat must find answers, fast.
Now we see if Tyler Herro is up to leading the search.
This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM.
