Miami Heat: Tyler Herro is the story of the game against Phoenix Suns

The Miami Heat took on the red hot Phoenix Suns on Saturday. Even though defeated in their effort, Tyler Herro was a star.

The Miami Heat came into Saturday’s game, off of Thursday’s defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, with even more flux in their regular rotation. Already being without Jimmy Butler in their game against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday of this past week, Goran Dragic was injured at the end of that contest, which caused him to miss Thursday’s game.

As Kendrick Nunn had to take care of a matter away from the bubble that is being listed as for “personal reasons”, he too would also be away for Saturday’s contest against the red hot Phoenix Suns, who had won all four of their games in the bubble leading up to this one. They beat the Wizards, the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the all of a sudden red hot as well, Indiana Pacers.

So, it was sure to be a lot for the Miami Heat to deal with being that they would be without three of their biggest producers in Nunn, Dragic, and Butler. It was, but it never really truly got out of hand.

For the most part, it was a back and forth game. Though the Miami Heat started to make a few late, their three-point shooting really wasn’t all that Heat like for much of the game, relative to the rest of the season and their status as one of the best distance shooting teams in the league this year.

If they had been shooting the ball with the same consistency and accuracy as they typically do, then this game may have turned out a bit different. That may have had something to do with who they were missing as well but even if that didn’t impact the distance shooting numbers, I still tend to think that with a completely healthy unit, the Miami Heat would have won this game as well.

The Miami Heat were defeated on Saturday but they had an epiphany as a team. Tyler Herro can definitely be a star.

None of that is the story though, as again and as inferred throughout the above, you have to take these results without Butler, Dragic, and especially another starter like Nunn with a grain of salt. The story from this contest was Tyler Herro.

As he has been evolving before our very eyes throughout the entire restart, he has seemingly found himself as a main ball handler and decision-maker for this Miami Heat team. The trust and responsibility were placed into his hands, mostly, on Saturday and he delivered.

He consistently made good decisions, knowing when to get his and when to find his teammates. And when he did either, score the ball or dish it, he looked really good, natural, and comfortable doing it.

Herro finished with 25 points, eight rebounds, and a career-high 10 assists on 10-16 from the field and 1-4 from three. First off, imagine if the three was falling for him, or anyone else this evening for that matter?

Secondly though, can you imagine how good he can be as he continues to get comfortable and grow there? The sky really is the limit for him.

Tonight’s performance makes the question of whether Nunn gets his starting job back a real one, even once everyone is back whole and playing. Tyler Herro was just that good on Saturday night as the feature decision-maker. That’s why he was the story of Saturday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns.