MIAMI – With the Miami Heat down 0-3 in the first-round playoff series to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 3 on Saturday showed how well Tyler Herro was defended. As the Heat's star in Herro was being targeted for his defense, as said by Darius Garland, the Cavs also focused their attention on his offensive ability, something that the first-time All-Star enjoyed seeing.

In the 37-point loss to Miami on Saturday afternoon, Herro finished the game with 13 points on five of 12 shooting from the field, only making one of three from beyond the arc. Cleveland has done what Herro has seen most of the season, which is upping the pressure, face-guarding, and forcing him into tough situations, something that Herro likes and even explains why it isn't a “good defense to play.”

“Everyone's seen it,” Herro said after Sunday's practice. “Face-guard, force everything down into the paint area, picking me up right when the ball goes through the net, they're picking me up. I like it, I like it a lot actually.”

“It’s really not a good defense to play,” Herro continued. ”As long as we can expose it, which we can. There’s ways to do it and that’s what we kind of worked on [Sunday] is picking different ways to kind of loosen up their defense a little bit.”

Heat's Tyler Herro sees opposing defense as a “sign of respect”

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) dribbles the basketball as Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) defends in the third quarter during game three for the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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With the Heat guard in Herro getting attention on and off the court for a multitude of reasons, it's partly with him being the team's No. 1 option offensively. Especially after Miami traded Jimmy Butler before the deadline, Herro has been receiving the same pressure with him countering it, leading to a hot end to the regular season.

However, Cleveland is a top team on the defensive side and found major success against him in Game 3. With the rest of the league guarding Herro like a star player, he does see it as a “sign of respect,” but he's more focused on leading the unit to a win.

“It’s a great sign of respect, but I’m not really looking for too much respect right now,” Herro said. “I’m just trying to win a game, so we just got to figure out ways to expose it. Obviously, yesterday wasn't how we wanted yesterday to go, so we got to make adjustments, figure out ways to be better for tomorrow, and compete.”

In his first All-Star season, as said before, Herro has led the Heat with 23.9 points and 5.5 assists to go along with 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from deep. He and others look to extend the series on Monday night in Game 4 against the Cavs as the team faces a win-or-go-home situation.