It was a week that started as good as any outside of the 2020 Disney World playoff bubble for Tyler Herro.
Monday, the third-year Miami Heat guard scored 25 to lead the Heat to a series-opening victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Tuesday, he was named the 2022 NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
Wednesday there were 18 points against the 76ers and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
All the focus was on Herro.
Eventually, so was all the attention.
Such is the double-edged sword of the NBA playoffs.
And, so, the double-teams and traps arrived against the 6-foot-5 guard Friday night. So did the Heat’s first loss of the series.
That led to a refresher course as the Heat headed into Sunday night’s Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center.
“And, look, that’s a sign of great respect, how important Tyler is to us,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the focus and feistiness 76ers coach Doc Rivers unleashed in Herro’s direction. “They know when he’s ignitable, when he creates so many more opportunities that are kind of unscripted. So they’re trying to eliminate some of those with those traps.
“And they’ve done a very good job of putting a lot of pressure on him, making it tough for him to make passes out of the trap. I think he’ll be better with it.”
To Spoelstra, this is nothing more than the push pull of the playoffs.
Adjust. Readjust,
So after the 76ers went to school on Herro, 22, school was back in session for the resilient reserve.
“Really, the whole regular season prepares you for the playoffs and moments like this,” Herro said. “They’re trapping me, putting a little more pressure on me, trying to get the ball out of my hands.
“So just have to make adjustments, make the right play, make the simple play, just continue to watch film and make adjustments.”
There still are plays to be made, Herro said, just, perhaps, in different ways.
“And then just be aggressive in different areas through the parts of the game, in transition, just different areas,” he said. “And, like I said, just making the right play, making the simple play, and I think we’ll be in good shape.”
When Herro was presented his Sixth Man award just prior to tipoff of Game 2, Rivers was the only member of the 76ers to applaud.
He also was taking notice, imploring his players not to lose sight of Herro, with so much attention otherwise on the Heat’s Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo.
The difference in Game 3, when Herro shot 5 of 15, was the 76ers also had center Joel Embiid and his intimidating length back in the mix.
“I mean we’ve got to stay aggressive,” Herro said. “We’ve played against Joel before. There’s the parts throughout the game that we can get in the paint more and spray to open shooters.
“It’s not always about going up against him, but just trying to get into the paint. I think that will help. And our offense will be much better.”
What hasn’t changed with Herro is the swag delivered since his arrival in the first round out of Kentucky in 2019.
So even amid the Game 3 loss there was a priceless moment when, after a steal and score, Herro mean-mugged Philadelphia Eagles players Haason Reddick, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, who were sitting along the baseline by the Heat basket, going as far as pointing a finger at Reddick. The three had earlier rung the ceremonial Liberty Bell at midcourt pregame to rile the 76ers’ crowd.
That led Reddick, he of the 31 NFL sacks, to take to Twitter with, “I do not appreciate the way Tyler Herro just looked at me,” with a playful emoji alongside. Davis simply jumped out of his seat and started laughing.
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