Winderman’s view: Tyler Herro gets tough lesson as leading man in Game 1 loss
Ira Winderman's perspectives and other items of note from the Miami Heat's Sunday NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics.
BOSTON — Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday’s 114-94 NBA playoff loss to the Boston Celtics:
– Life as an NBA leading man can be glamorous.
– It also can be challenging.
– As Tyler Herro found out Sunday against the Celtics.
– Had Jimmy Butler been available, he assuredly would have had the full defensive attention of Jrue Holiday.
– As he did in last season’s first round, when he cooked Holiday and the Bucks.
– Had Terry Rozier been available, he also assuredly would have caught Holiday’s attention.
– So Herro became Holiday’s focus.
– As well as the focus of the Celtics’ interior defenders.
– It did not go well.
– The problem is the Heat at the moment have no Plan B.
– With all due respect to what Jaime Jaquez Jr. accomplished in Sunday’s playoff debut.
– Herro as secondary scorer is doable for a contender.
– Which is where this was setting up.
– Until Butler and Rozier went down.
– Sidelined during the first half of the Heat’s first playoff game last year, Herro at least this time will get a second chance.
– Against the toughest of defenders.
– And defenses.
– At the moment, he is in the loneliest of spots.
– Amid the ongoing absences of Butler and Rozier, the Heat for the second consecutive game opened with a lineup of Herro, Jaquez, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Caleb Martin.
– The Celtics opened with Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kistaps Porzingis.
– With Martin called for a second foul with 6:45 left in the opening period, Haywood Highsmith played as the Heat’s first reserve.
– Delon Wright was next off the Heat bench.
– Duncan Robinson then entered with 3:41 left in the opening period, along with Kevin Love.
– The rotation was so scrambled that the Heat closed the first quarter with a lineup of Jaquez, Wright, Love, Highsmith and Robinson.
– Essentially playing Jaquez in the Butler role with the second unit.
– Of those available, out of the Heat rotation mix were Thomas Bryant, Patty Mills and Orlando Robinson.
– Two-way players Jamal Cain, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams are ineligible for the playoffs but did travel.
– The Heat entered with an all-time 162-128 (.559) postseason record, the third-highest winning percentage in NBA history, behind only the Lakers (.597) and Celtics (.566).
– The Heat also entered with 20 all-time playoff wins against the Celtics, the most against any opponent. Next on the list is the 19 against the Knicks.
– Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was asked pregame about his expectations for the series.
– “I think we have to be open to how the games play out,” he said. “It’s a privilege to have these kinds of competitive series. We obviously have history with them. But all of that really is in the past.”
– He added, “It really just creates an environment of competition. That’s the way I look at it. Both organizations really respect each other, both have been here in the playoffs for several years and we’ve met for a reason. There’s a lot of things that are done right by both organizations.”
– Now in his second postseason as Celtics coach, Joe Mazzulla was asked pregame about his perceptions on the differences between the regular season and playoffs.
– “I think the hardest thing to do is the simple things, under higher duress, under more physicality,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing: the margins become that much more important.”
– With Mazzulla in his second postseason, Spoelstra was asked to reflect on the differences in his second postseason.
– “It’s tough for me to really remember,” he joked of the time that has passed since those 2009 and 2010 postseasons. “People think our first playoff runs with our coaching staff was during the Big Three. It wasn’t. We had two playoff runs before that, where we were knocked out in the first round.”
– Indeed, the Heat lost in the 2009 first round to the Hawks and 2010 first round to the Celtics, before four consecutive runs to the NBA Finals with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
– Herro extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 37.