The Miami Heat continued their ramp up to the 2021-22 regular season campaign on Thursday in a trip to the Lone Star State. Facing off against the Houston Rockets on Thursday, they will then travel to San Antonio for a Friday night matchup against Gregg Popovich’s Spurs.
While Friday’s game is beyond them still, Thursday night’s contest would be a chance to continue to build on what they had started in the first preseason game of the year on Monday. Again and though just preseason, the Miami Heat really looked like a totally reinvigorated team on Monday and great in doing so.
While Kyle Lowry‘s impact was immediately noticeable and while Bam Adebayo seems to finally be figuring out the offensive aggressiveness part of things, Tyler Herro was the story. Things were no different on Thursday night and again, as there could have been a few different takeaways, Herro was the story.
The Miami Heat are 2-0 in the NBA preseason and Tyler Herro has been excellent. If he can continue this, they shouldn’t have an issue carrying this success over.
Coming off the mentioned excellent preseason opener, in which he had a nice all-around stat line of 26 points, four rebounds, and four assists on 9-12 from the floor and 3-4 from range, it was much of the same for the Boy Wonder in this game.
Almost exactly on his same point per minute pace (26 points in 26 minutes) that he set in the first preseason game against Atlanta, he would score 24 points in 25 minutes of action in Thursday’s win over the Houston Rockets. To go along with the 24 points on 7-13 from the field and 4-7 from range, he would add nine rebounds and three assists for his Miami Heat.
The man had another well-rounded game. While his ball handling was still sharp, strong, and crisp, he showed you a few more things with his playmaking on Monday too. There was one sequence that saw Jimmy Butler finish in close on an And-1 opportunity.
The pass that set him up there was a perfect lead-in lob pass that Tyler Herro practically dropped in his bucket between two Rockets defenders, like Tom Brady in the red zone. Basically, he was on again on Thursday and my gosh, does it look good.
As it needs to be said a ton at this point, it’s still only the preseason, we get it. However, two games in a row like this is still pretty good at this pace, regardless of the situation.
This isn’t a proclamation, as much as very encouraging on Tyler Herro and his improved strength, freedom of play, and everything that has, seemingly, come back with him from the offseason. If he can carry this type of play over into the regular season, the sky is not only the limit for him, but Miami Heat as well.