Hero ball raises questions about the 'fearlessness' of Heat's Tyler Herro

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Apr 10, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW ORLEANS — “Irrational confidence.”

It is a phrase Erik Spoelstra has utilized liberally over his Miami Heat coaching tenure, typically about scorers who succeed by going against the book, against the flow, against protocol.

So there was Tyler Herro with the ball on the left wing in the open court after a steal Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center with 41.6 seconds remaining and his team down five, nothing but open space between himself and the rim.

But also between Herro and the rim was the 3-point line — an exit ramp of choice by those with irrational confidence.

So Herro stopped and hoisted.

His 3-pointer was off.

“That,” Bulls guard Kevin Huerter said, “was pretty ballsy. If he makes it, it looks great. Luckily for us, it missed.”

Ten seconds later a Bulls 3-pointer put the game out of reach in closing out the 119-111 loss, planting the Heat in the deepest of play-in holes, two road wins in that round now likely needed to advance to the playoffs.

For all that had gone wrong in the showdown against the No. 9 Bulls, including being run out of the gym at times by Chicago’s transition game, there still was that moment in time, Herro’s moment in time, to change the momentum not only of a game, but also of the play-in race.

Clank.

In the immediate wake, Spoelstra was none too happy.

In the delayed wake, during his postgame media session, Spoelstra attempted to rationalize the irrational.

“Here’s what I’ll say,” Spoelstra said, “is Tyler has a fearlessness that you can’t take for granted. He’s hit so many big shots. He wants to take on anything to help you win and he’s had a lot of big plays offensively, especially in fourth quarters in his time with us.

“And it’s my job now to also coach him in situational basketball. It was still a two-possession game, and regardless, we were going to have to get a stop. It was set up to be probably a decent two-for-one opportunity.”

With a layup instead of the launch, the Heat would have been within 114-111 with those 41.6 seconds remaining.

“I was feeling that shot, as simple as that,” Herro said by his locker, with the Heat heading off to New Orleans for a Friday night road finale against the Pelicans that likely will stand moot when it comes to the Heat’s play-in race. “It was the shot I was feeling.”

But hindsight, and Spoelstra’s immediate disgust, had Herro reflecting on the alternate reality.

“Looking back at it now, obviously missing the shot, I should have laid the ball up,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I believe that I could make that shot. I believe in myself and I’m going to live and die by that.”

On the opposite end of the locker room, center and team captain Bam Adebayo stood by his man.

“Hey, man, that kid has made a lot of tough buckets in his career,” Adebayo said, “so you tip your hat off when he shoots stuff like that. That’s a killer mentality.

“To me, that’s one of the best looks he got all night. So, man, you live with that. Because a hundred percent you wouldn’t be talking about it if he made it. You got to live with those.”

Accepting Tyler, as even Spoelstra mentioned, for who he is.

“He’s got a ‘kill’ mentality,” said Spoelstra, whose team concludes its regular-season schedule Sunday at Kaseya Center against the Washington Wizards. “That wasn’t a ‘kill’ opportunity at that point. And that’s why I love Tyler for his fearlessness. But I also love him for his coachability. And it’s my responsibility as the head coach to coach him through situations like this.

“But also on that kind of play, that he came up with the ball, it was a great play. He made some really good plays to make it stressful for them. But we needed a whole lot more of that throughout the course of the game.”