Heat's Tyler Herro making early All-Star case without Jimmy Butler

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In what was a heartbreaking loss by the Miami Heat due to a brutal mistake by Erik Spoelstra against the Detroit Pistons, 123-121, the bright side of the defeat was the performance of star Tyler Herro. The Heat guard would impress in the NBA Cup group play opener as himself, Spoelstra, and teammate Bam Adebayo spoke about the dynamite outing from the 24-year-old.

On Tuesday night, he scored a whopping 40 points, which included not just 14 of 27 shooting from the field but he also made 10 shots from beyond the arch out of 16 attempts. He also recorded eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals leading to talks of a legitimate shot of making an early case of making the All-Star team, which would be the first time in his career, as Adebayo echoed the same sentiments, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

"He's having a hell of a year," Adebayo said of his teammate. "He deserves that All Star nod. We've been pushing him for three or four years to get that nod. He's healthy, playing at his own pace, making decisions, making plays."

While fans were speculating about Herro’s role with the Heat before the season, he put a lot of those doubts to bed so far through 10 games this season as he leads the team with 24,9 points per game. There has been an emphasis on his shots this season, prioritizing attempts from deep and in the paint, and he’s been executing that aspect with flying colors.

"Those were not easy threes," Spoelstra said. "His release has gotten so much quicker. If he's not knocking down all those shots, we're not in position for him to have that last possession."

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra on the change Tyler Herro has made 

Even though Tuesday night will be defined by Spoelstra’s “horrendous” mental glitch, as he described, Herro was one point shy away from a career-high and was crucial to the team’s comeback late in the game. Miami started the game slow, as Detroit had a 10-0 run, leading to an early 18-point lead.

However, the Heat would get a run of their own in the first half, though the Pistons would gain control back, but it was Herro who was unstoppable in the fourth, making six shots from the three-point line, erasing an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The University of Kentucky product would even score the potential go-ahead bucket with just over a second left in overtime to give Miami a lead until the Pistons scored back, and Spoelstra made the mental error.

"His release has gotten so much quicker," Spoelstra said of Herro. "He's always been super ignitable. And this ignition happened in these pressure moments."

Herro has become a more complete player this season, showing off not just his offensive talent but his play-making abilities and activeness on the defensive side. There had to have been a fire lit under Herro, especially since he missed a significant portion of last season due to injuries.

Heat’s Tyler Herro on his impressive start to the season

He found a clear way to turn on the fiery nature of his offensive game as it was needed due to a lack of offensive firepower, especially as the Heat are without Jimmy Butler due to an ankle injury. Herro would mention that after the game as a reason why he “started to feel good” in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s loss.

"Just continuing to get better and just trying to impact the game as much as I can," Herro said Tuesday night. "At the end [against Detroit], I just felt like my scoring was needed. We were in position to win. Things will learn from going forward… I'm happy the fight we have. We could have laid down with six minutes left, down 10…and I hit a couple threes and started to feel good."

Herro looks to have a healthier season, as it was a goal even stated by Heat president Pat Riley calling him “fragile” in terms of his health in his viral end-of-season press conference last May. If he keeps up this level of play, there is no doubt that his first All-Star nod will come this season.

A look back at the brutal mistake made by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra

However, the performance was all for naught as the basketball world was focused on Spoelstra’s mental mistake he made in the overtime period of the game. As said before, Herro would take the lead back for the Heat over the Pistons, but the next possession saw Cade Cunningham lob to Jalen Duren on an in-bounds pass.

As Spoelstra was vividly upset by the defensive lapse, he called a timeout even though the team had none remaining, which led to Detroit making the technical free throw and keeping the ball to put the game away.

The Pistons win it after head coach Erik Spoelstra is called for a technical foul for attempting to call a timeout with none remaining https://t.co/kCjq7fUU5fpic.twitter.com/hiDgtBH0ap

— HEAT on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Heat) November 13, 2024

Spoelstra would hold himself accountable at the press conference after the loss and expressed how “horrible” of an error it was that cost his team the game, as shown in a video by the FanDuel Sports Network’s X, formerly Twitter, account.

"I made just a serious mental error at the end," Spoelstra said about the baffling mistake Tuesday. "That's on me. I feel horrible about it. There's really no excuse for that. I'm 17 years in. We had talked about it in the huddle. I knew we didn't have [a timeout]. I just got emotional and reactive on that and I just made a horrendous mistake there at the end. It's a shame because we really fought back.”

"You don't want to come down to a mental error like that,” Spoelstra continued. “You would have liked to have seen it go double overtime. It deserved to go double OT and not have someone get in the way of that. Unfortunately, even as a veteran coach, I got in the way of that."

“There’s really no excuse for that; I’m 17 years in… I feel horrible about it…” said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on his technical foul after calling a timeout with none left. pic.twitter.com/3zuk8GW3Vh

— HEAT on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Heat) November 13, 2024

Heat’s Tyler Herro defends Erik Spoelstra after error

There were many players that stood up for their head coach in, Spoelstra, who has had tremendous success with the franchise, winning two championships and going to six NBA Finals, leading the Heat to sign him to a massive extension last season. One of those players was Herro, who would downplay the mistake by Spoelstra, saying that the team would “ride” with him “no matter what.”

"Spo is one of the best coaches ever. It happens,” Herro said via Jackson of The Miami Herald. “Great players make bad plays. Great coaches sometimes, he made a tough decision. It was an intense moment. Sometimes, you get caught up in that. He won us the game last game. We ride with Spo no matter what."

At any rate, the Heat are now 0-1 in NBA Cup group play and 4-6 on the season, which puts them ninth in the Eastern Conference. They look to bounce back as the next two games conclude the long current road trip as they will face the Indiana Pacers twice, with the first Thursday night being the second game in NBA Cup group play.

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