Former Marquette star Jimmy Butler gets much of the credit for the Miami Heat’s unlikely playoff run.
And while Butler certainly deserves the many accolades he’s received during the playoffs, Miami’s appearance in the NBA Finals is partly down to stellar three-point shooting,
After finishing a terrible 27th in the regular season from beyond the arc, the Heat have made nearly 40% of their three-point attempts in the playoffs — and that’s without perimeter specialist Tyler Herro.
Could that soon change?
On Monday night, it was unclear whether Herro, a former Whitnall High School star, would be able to play in Game 3 on Wednesday night. He hasn’t been available since breaking his hand in Game 1 of the playoffs at Milwaukee.
Herro apparently still feels pain in his surgically repaired hand when shooting.
Should he play? On Brian Windhorst’s ESPN Hoop Collective podcast on Tuesday, Windhorst and Zach Lowe agreed that the Heat need to be careful about how Herro works in the mix… if the team brings him all back into the final series with the seeded Denver nuggets.
“This Denver team is so good and their pick and roll defense…there are ways to peck it with pull jump shooters…and that’s one thing Tyler Herro can do,” Lowe said on the podcast. .
“If I’m Erick Spoelstra and I’m confident in him, I’ll try him in a very limited role. Let me see if you can get a few shots in four or five minutes… But I’m ready to unplug the Take it early and have a tough conversation.”
“The Heat have been great for seven weeks without him,” Windhorst added. “If you lose this streak and you don’t play him, you might think to yourself, I wonder what would have happened if he had played, or if you played him, you might ruin what you have in course. I think not playing the card is what you would have a harder time living with.”
Herro has averaged 20.1 points in 67 games this season and has shot nearly 38% from three points. His target date for returning to action was Wednesday when the Heat host the Nuggets in Miami.
He is completing the first year of a four-year, $120 million contract.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tyler Herro’s NBA Finals Game 3 status still in question