Miami Heat miss Jimmy Butler & Tyler Herro, but not for what you think

The Miami Heat played their second contest in their two-game series against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. It started out bad, looked to be getting a bit better, but ultimately finished awfully.

The Miami Heat were ran out of the building and twice if you think about it. Going down 20 in the opening half, they wound up pulling back tight with the Raptors, even mirroring Toronto’s point total at one point.

Then, as the second half progressed, they found themselves falling back into some of the same habits that they had to open the game and thus, ultimately falling into a hole they couldn’t climb out of. That’s the bell and whistles of that one though, the Miami Heat were beaten pretty badly by this shorthanded Toronto Raptors team that played without Kyle Lowry.

The Miami Heat really miss Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler, but not for the reason you think.

My grand takeaway from this contest is this. The Miami Heat really miss Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler.

Though the Miami Heat have gotten a few wins over their last few contests, if this roster were good enough without Jimmy and Tyler then they wouldn’t be here. It’s as simple as that, the Miami Heat are good enough to win a few games without them, but not as many as they can with them.

That’s actually the most basic point here. The second point and the more complex one is this.

Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro not only provide valuable production on the court, as far as statistics go, but they also help the Miami Heat from a mental perspective. Jimmy is as tough as nails.

When he’s going and giving it his all, the rest of the team follows. It’s as simple as that.

Tyler Herro’s is a bit different, but manifests itself in the same way. He is just so confident in his ability that when he’s feeling it, the team typically organically falls into the flow of the game with him.

This typically means good things for the Heat for two reasons. His confidence is contagious, but he also literally begins to make things easier on the floor for those around him.

Perhaps that ends up being all rooted in him scoring the basketball, but it does so much more besides just allow or functions as him scoring. So, again, we would have loved for the Miami Heat to win this second game against Toronto as well and especially to make it three in a row but it’s ok.

They aren’t supposed to win all of the games without two of their top four players, their best player, and two of their five core starting players. Think about it?

The Miami Heat are still ok, please don’t panic… not just yet. This though, is why they really miss Jimmy and Tyler, but not specifically for what you think.