Herro plays starring role in win
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 112-109 win against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday in the Eastern Conference finals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista.
Miami, which is 11-2 this postseason, holds a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Heat rookie Tyler Herro was the best player on the court in Game 4.
Herro was a force, finishing with a career-high 37 points while shooting 14 of 21 from the field and 5 of 10 on threes. Those 37 points also set a new record for points scored by a Heat rookie in a playoff game, surpassing the 27 points Dwyane Wade scored on May 2, 2004 in Game 6 of Miami’s first-round series against the then-New Orleans Hornets.
Herro is the first NBA rookie to score 33 or more points in a playoff game since Utah’s Donovan Mitchell did it twice in 2018.
Herro is also just the fourth player in NBA history to score 30 or more points in a playoff game at age 20 or younger. That list also includes Magic Johnson (1980 NBA Finals), Derrick Rose (2009 first round) and Brandon Jennings (2010 first round).
The 20-year-old Herro has scored double-digit points in each of his first 13 playoff games, joining
Elgin Baylor (1959) and Alvan Adams (1976) as the only rookies in NBA history to begin a postseason with 13 consecutive double-digit scoring performances.
While Herro was the start of the game, the Heat’s trio of Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic was solid, too.
Adebayo finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Butler recorded 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
Dragic ended the night with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. The Heat was looking for a better start in Game 4, and that’s exactly what it got.
In Game 1 of the East finals, the Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit to win. In Game 2, the Heat rallied from a 17-point deficit to win.
In Game 3, the Heat trailed by as many as 20 points and could not complete another comeback.
But Miami didn’t need to rally in Game 4. A strong start kept the Heat ahead for most of the night, as Miami took the lead with 11:05 remaining in the second quarter and held onto it the rest of the way — other than a short 16second stretch that Boston had a one-point lead in the fourth quarter.
This was important for the Heat, which was outscored by 26 points in the first half of the first three games of the conference finals.
On Wednesday, Miami won the first quarter 24-23. The Heat has won just four of 13 first quarters this postseason.
Miami also entered halftime with a 50-44 lead. It marked the first first half the Heat has won in the East finals.
The Heat then led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter and also won won the fourth quarter 35-33.
One of coach Erik Spoelstra’s adjustments after the Heat’s Game 3 loss? A different and shorter bench rotation.
The starting five was the same as it has been throughout the playoffs: Dragic, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Jae Crowder and Adebayo.
But Spoelstra switched things up with the reserves, using forward Solomon Hill as the third player off Miami’s bench Wednesday behind only Tyler Herro and Andre Iguodala. It marked Hill’s first minutes this postseason, and his first playoff minutes since May 8, 2018 as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Hill finished scoreless in four minutes.
But that wasn’t the only change to the Heat’s rotation in Game 4. Spoelstra also tightened the rotation, using eight players Wednesday instead of the usual nine or 10 players he has used in most games this postseason.
Herro, Iguodala and Hill were the only players used off Miami’s bench in Game 4. Derrick Jones Jr. (has played in 10 of Miami’s 13 playoff games), Kendrick Nunn (has played in nine of 13 playoff games) and Kelly Olynyk (has played in 11 of 13 playoff games) did not play.
Considering Hill’s limited minutes, Spoelstra really only used seven players in Game 4.