Tyler Herro came out with his best performance of the season for the Miami Heat on Tuesday in a narrow 137-134 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. As it turns out, the second-year shooting guard almost ended up missing the game entirely.
After the loss, Herro revealed how he was almost sent home to Miami due to the league’s COVID-19 health protocols:
“I was on the bus to go back to Miami [Monday] and then they, at the last second, told me I was actually clear and able to stay here with the team,” he said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “So I was packed and ready to go back to Miami. And last second, they told me I could stay.”
It’s a good thing that the team recalled Herro, as the 20-year-old produced one of the best games of his young NBA career. Herro finished with 34 points on 12-of-26 shooting, to go along with three triples, seven rebounds, four assists, a block, and six turnovers (ouch) in 39 minutes of action.
Herro served as the Heat’s primary playmaker in this one (which also explains the high turnover rate) with both Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler all forced to sit the game out due to health and safety protocols. Miami was also without Bam Adebayo, Avery Bradley, Meyers Leonard, Moe Harkless, and Kendrick Nunn.
It was an admirable effort from Herro and the rest of the shorthanded Heat, but in the end, they had no answer to Sixers superstar Joel Embiid. The All-Star big man dominated Miami en route to a 45-point, 16-rebound double-double.
