Miami rookie Herro creates a little Magic
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The youngest player on the floor helped the Miami Heat move a game away from the NBA Finals.
Tyler Herro — still just 20 years old — scored a Heat rookierecord 37 points, Jimmy Butler had 24 and Miami beat the Boston Celtics 112109 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Goran Dragic added 22 and Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 12 rebounds to help the Heat take a 31 lead in the bestofseven series. They can close out the series Friday night in Game 5.
Jayson Tatum scored all 28 of his points in the second half for the Celtics. They erased a doubledigit deficit to take a onepoint lead in the fourth — then the Heat took control again. Jaylen Brown scored 21 points, Kemba Walker added 20, Gordon Hayward had 14 and Marcus Smart finished with 10 points and 11 assists.
Brown’s 3pointer with 16 seconds left cut Miami’s lead to 107104. Herro went to the line 2.1 seconds later and swished two foul shots, stretching the lead back to five. The Celtics cut the margin to two points twice, Butler made a free throw with 1.1 seconds remaining, and Boston — out of timeouts — did not get off a desperation shot.
Herro made 14 of 21 shots from the floor, including 5for10 from 3point range and became just the second 20yearold in NBA playoff history to score at least 37 points in a game. The other: Magic Johnson, who had 42 in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals for the Lakers against the 76ers.
“I feel good about it,” Herro said. “There’s a lot of work to be done still. We’re up 31.“
And the Heat rookie playoff record was 27 by Dwyane Wade in 2004; it now belongs to Herro, who scored 17 points in the fourth quarter alone.