MIAMI – After Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra achieved his 800th win in his career in the 106-103 NBA Cup group play win over the Milwaukee Bucks, it also marked the second game in Tyler Herro's return. With the Heat's offense looking to mix Herro in, the team has taken an offensive dip in the past few contests, leading some to believe the All-Star guard is the reason, though Spoelstra wants to end that narrative immediately.
Before Herro's return on Nov. 24 against the Dallas Mavericks, Miami had averaged a league-best 124.9 points per game, but since his season debut, the team has scored 106 points in back-to-back games. Herro has been effective since coming back to the team, scoring 24 and 29 points in the wins over Dallas and Milwaukee, respectively.
But with the team not firing on all cylinders on offense, there's no doubt been some speculation from the basketball world on Herro slowing them down. To Spoelstra, it's much more than that, explaining why the offensive dip is “not because of Tyler coming back.”
“But he is certainly going to add, look, it will take a little bit of time, the last two games,” Spoelstra said. “That's not because of Tyler coming back. It's because, you know, teams will try to scheme against what we're trying to do. Teams will try to slow us down, and we just need to be better at what we do. I'm looking forward to a practice session on Friday so we can fine-tune some things.”
Erik Spoelstra speaks on Tyler Herro’s return the past two games and how the offensive dip in the last two are not because of him:
“It’ll take time. Last two games its not because Tyler came back. Teams will try to scheme and we need to be better at what we do…” #HeatNation pic.twitter.com/nt0p5TWC4e
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) November 27, 2025
Heat's Erik Spoelstra on the work Tyler Herro has put in with the injury
Besides Herro, the Heat got back a fully healthy roster, leading Spoelstra to experiment with lineups, rotations, and playing time, especially with the return of Andrew Wiggins, after he missed the last three games. The starting lineups saw their eighth different one since the regular season started, with Spoelstra using his entire 10-man rotation in the first quarter, even seeing Nikola Jovic as a healthy scratch.
There's no doubt that it'll be a process for Spoelstra and Miami to figure out, as the season goes on, regarding rotations, but now with another offensive firepower added to the mix in Herro, the team's ceiling is higher than before. Spoelstra would say how it's been impressive to see the work Herro has put in since the ankle surgery in the offseason.
“I just wanted to be open to all the possibilities and open to whatever he can bring that can add to our team,” Spoelstra said. “We're so familiar with him. His skill level is just amazing, and he works so hard. So he has the skill level, he has the ambition, he has the work ethic.”
“It's not easy to be out a significant amount of time, then to come back and look like you haven't missed a day, but that's a credit to his work,” Spoelstra continued. “He does everything at full speed. Every rep is like a live rep, whether he's going to go or whether he has a coach working against him. So it gets him in rhythm much quicker.”
At any rate, Miami is now 13-6 as Herro and the rest of the team look to put the pieces together on Saturday against the Detroit Pistons, looking for seven straight wins.
