The Miami Heat’s resilient six-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night. On the second night of a back-to-back, they fell just short to the Memphis Grizzlies at home. However, the stars showed out in this one for both teams, including another masterful offensive performance from Tyler Herro.
Memphis secured the tight victory with a final score of 110-108 off the back of a clutch Ja Morant game winning buzzer beater.
It was a tough blow to a Heat team that battled throughout the night, just to come up short in the final seconds. Morant’s athleticism and shot creation caused havoc all night, as the All-NBA guard totaled a team-high 30 points on 50% from the field in the Grizzlies’ win.
Outside of the Tyler Herro-Bam Adebayo duo, Miami got minimal contributions from the rest of the rotation. This would have been the perfect game to utilize a legitimate third option to supplement the Heat’s All-Stars in Andrew Wiggins, although the newly acquired forward remained sidelined with a hamstring injury.
With the loss, Miami clinched their third consecutive play-in berth in the Eastern Conference. But there was still a notable silver lining.
Tyler Herro went toe-to-toe with Ja Morant in the Miami Heat’s loss, finishing with a game-high 35 points and 9 rebounds on 52% shooting.
Years ago, Herro claimed that he should be in the same conversation as players like Morant, Trae Young and Luka Doncic. It was a polarizing quote at the time that made the rounds on social media and was mostly met with eye rolls.
It seemed far fetched back in 2022, but fast forward years later and that confident statement isn’t as far off as initially thought. Herro went on to secure the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award that same season and ultimately developed into an All-Star.
It's crazy that this Tyler Herro quote to @jeremytache wound up closer to accurate than the opposite.
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) April 4, 2025
Herro's work ethic and dedication to his craft has been nothing short of superb.
19 points in the third quarter and it felt like they came easy to him. pic.twitter.com/ce8alwsd86
Herro came into this 2024-25 campaign putting an emphasis on altering his shot diet. He has attempted less mid range shots and put more of an emphasis on 3-pointers and rim attacks.
That adjustment has led to the greatest season of his career yet, and it’s turned him into a more efficient player in the process.
He is now sporting season averages of 24 points, 5.6 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 0.9 steals on 47% shooting— all good for career highs. Additionally, Herro has shot 37.3% from 3-point range on 8.9 attempts per game, and secured the 3-point champion title at the NBA’s All-Star weekend back in February.
Herro is putting up the largest volume of long-range shooting of his first six seasons in the league. If Herro can maintain that 24 points average during this final stretch, he will emerge as Miami's first 24-point-per-game scorer since LeBron James in 2014.
Despite Miami’s heart breaker in the aftermath of the Morant game winner, Herro continues to show that the best is still yet to come.