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Tyler Herro hadn’t played in a playoff game before Tuesday but was trusted enough to play crucial crunch-time minutes as the Miami Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Jimmy Butler scored a team-high 28 points, Goran Dragic added 24 points while Herro scored 15 points, four assists and three rebounds in 33 minutes off of the bench in the 113-101 victory. Perhaps most importantly, Herro looked comfortable all game long.
The Heat entered the fourth quarter with a narrow one-point lead but outscored the Pacers by 11 in the period to seal the win. Herro played all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter as the Heat began to pull away behind a stellar showing from Butler and Dragic.
Herro was trusted to stay on the floor based largely in part because of his defense. He has improved throughout the year on that side of the ball and put forth a great effort on Tuesday, which prompted head coach Erik Spoelstra to credit his preparation and work.
If we were just starting to prepare for the playoffs and our young guys were just starting to prepare for this series three days ago, we’d be in trouble. This has been months in the making. He still has a ways to go defensively but he is much better than when he first arrived in Miami.
Tyler Herro looking SMOOOOOTH in PLAYOFF DEBUT 🔥 @raf_tyler pic.twitter.com/mwfvoIl9np
— Overtime (@overtime) August 18, 2020
The former Kentucky guard has established himself as being a strong offensive weapon but not necessarily a great defender. Teams are often reluctant to play rookies in crunch-time situations because of defensive issues but the Heat showed no hesitation of sitting Herro in Game 1.
Herro showed no signs of being afraid of the moment and performed like a seasoned veteran. Teammate, and fellow rookie, Kendrick Nunn was a healthy scratch from the lineup, which helped create more playing time for Herro.
Herro had an idea of what to expect going into his first playoff game and noticed that the intensity level was much higher than that of a regular-season game.
My vets have told me what it was going to be like. Obviously, the intensity was a lot higher, there is a lot at stake. Both teams want to win bad and it was Game 1, we all want to come out and get Game 1. Big win for us but there is a lot more we need to do but it felt good to get out there and get my first playoff game under my belt.
The Heat will need to continue to get solid contributions off of the bench from Herro in order to make a deep playoff run and it appears as though Herro is prepared to do just that.
Game 2 of the series will tip-off off Thursday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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