The Miami Heat have been the story of the 2023 NBA Playoffs thus far, as they now find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals as the 8-seed in the conference. Defeating the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks, the Heat are four wins away from making it back to the NBA Finals, but Tyler Herro's status continues to be a question mark.
In their first-round series against the Bucks, Herro dove on the ground for a loose ball and ended up suffering a broken right hand that he underwent surgery for on April 21. Missing all of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Knicks, there is a chance Herro could return to the floor at some point in the playoffs, but according to head coach Erik Spoelstra, he will not be ready for Game 1 against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
“The good thing about a hand (injury) is you're able to do other things with that, but he can't shoot, he can't dribble,” Spoelstra told reporters on Monday afternoon. “I don't have an update. He won't be playing Wednesday is that fair enough?”
Coach Spo provides an update on Tyler Herro’s hand injury pic.twitter.com/mAMYcUQpdr
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) May 15, 2023
The good news for the Heat is that Herro is doing other things while recovering from his hand injury and their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Celtics could wind up going until May 29 if there was a Game 7. This would give Miami's guard another week-and-a-half to two weeks to improve and possibly get back on the floor.
The bad news however is that Herro still isn't shooting or dribbling yet based on what Spoelstra said on Monday, which makes it unlikely that he will be able to play in any of the first few games of this series.
The 2021-22 NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Herro stepped up into the starting unit for the Heat this season and continued to be a key contributor for them. Starting in all 67 games he played in this season, Herro averaged 20.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 37.8 percent from three-point range.
His added offensive production has been missed by the Heat in these playoffs and getting him back in any capacity will definitely improve Miami's chances of possibly beating Boston. At this time though, Herro's potential return is trending more towards doubtful heading into the Eastern Conference Finals.
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