With the Miami Heat suffering a loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, 119-108, there was one component that is a huge head-scratcher for fans that involves star Tyler Herro. While the Heat have been one of the league's highest-scoring teams, that wasn't shown against the Mavericks, as Herro's usage was an interesting storyline coming out of the game.
In the first half, it would look like Herro was on the way to having an explosive night, scoring 20 points, making eight of his 12 shots from the field, two of three from deep. However, Herro would be scoreless in the second half, missing all five of his shot attempts, as with Miami missing Norman Powell due to an ankle injury, it could've been easy to think the guard would get an extra opportunity.
Still, it has been a continuous process for Herro, who's still looking to get 100 percent back after returning from surgery in the offseason, having now played in five games this season. As he mentioned, Herro is still building chemistry with the team.
“We got a deep team,” Herro said, according to The Miami Herald. “I’m playing with a bunch of great guys, great players on his team. It has been great for me, and just getting back into the swing of things. And just looking forward to continuing to build the chemistry.”
Herro's usage rate dipped in the second from 27.7 percent to 14.3 percent, mentioning how his drop-off was just him not “touching the ball,” and not anything that Dallas did on Wednesday.
“I didn’t really have the ball in the second half,” Herro said about the second half. “It just didn’t find me. It’s all good.”
Heat's Bam Adebayo, Erik Spoelstra on getting Tyler Herro going
As displayed in the Heat's destruction of the Clippers last Monday, the team has transformed its offense into a free-flowing, fast-paced offense that has been paying dividends, leading the NBA in pace with 105.82 possessions per 48 minutes. However, getting a player like Herro back and playing to his strengths, along with Norman Powell and others in the new offense, will take time.
“We’ll just figure it out,” Miami captain Bam Adebayo said. “We’re all playing well, so it’s hard to say somebody has the hot hand. But also, we understand the kid [Herro] can go get a bucket at any point in time. So just understanding that, that’s really the coach’s job. For us, it’s more sharing the game and figuring out how we can all get this ball game and a win.”
Herro has been open to it, saying “we'll see” when asked if outings like this are part of that development, saying that while he feels good, it's still a “long process” to get back to what he was before the surgery. Head coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game that he could've done a better job in the second half getting Herro going.
The Heat are 14-8, looking to bounce back on Friday against the Orlando Magic.
