Miami Heat: Tyler Herro is the next man up with Goran Dragic out

The Miami Heat had a disastrous Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. With the injuries they suffered, it’s Tyler Herro’s time to shine.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals couldn’t have gone much worse for the Miami Heat. After jumping out to an impressive early 23-10 lead, they simply couldn’t hold off the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers caught fire and went on a huge run, outscoring the Heat 77-32 to take an 87-55 lead before finally coasting to a 116-98 victory.

It was a disaster, and not just on the scoreboard. Jimmy Butler sprained his ankle right before halftime, Bam Adebayo strained his shoulder and Goran Dragic suffered a plantar tear in his left foot. That injury might not keep him out of the rest of this series, according to reports, but it’s sure to hamper his effectiveness if he is able to return.

The Heat are in bad shape in this series. Already outmatched against two of the best players in the world in the forms of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the injuries are perhaps not a deathblow but they may be the next worst thing. If they want to bounce back, they’re going to need a Herculean effort out of their rookie guard Tyler Herro.

With Dragic out for at least the foreseeable future, Herro is a virtual certainty to slot into the starting lineup in his place.

He had a remarkable Eastern Conference Finals performance against the Boston Celtics, averaging 19.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 52.3 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from 3-point range. Even better, he scored an incredible 37 points in Game 4 against the Celtics, shooting 14-of-21 from the floor and 5-of-10 from 3-point range.

Tyler Herro has the potential to shoot the cover off the ball, but it’s not going to be easy against these Lakers. While he was able to torch Kemba Walker in the Conference Finals, scoring 29 points while shooting 57.9 percent from the floor, he’s up against the backcourt triumvirate of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Rajon Rondo. In Game 1, he was held scoreless in the 6:39 of game time when any of this trio guarded him, according to the NBA’s matchup stats.

Herro’s Game 1 was one to forget overall. He scored just 14 points even though he led his team in field goal attempts with 18, and he was a team-worst -35 in his 30 minutes. Of course, plus-minus is a nebulous stat that often fringes on meaningless in a single-game sample, but any time you get shredded like this when you’re on the floor, it’s something that must be noted. Also of note, and equally meaningless, the only other plus-minus as bad as Herro’s in the Finals was Kobe Bryant‘s -35 in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

Fixing what went wrong for Tyler Herro may prove to be almost as much a coaching issue as a Herro issue. As a rookie, he’s not necessarily equipped to take on the load that will be needed in Dragic’s absence, so head coach Erik Spoelstra will likely have to craft some version of a “let it fly” strategy for the youngster.

The Miami Heat are in desperate straits, and they’re going to need otherworldly performances from Tyler Herro if they’re hoping to get this series back into a competitive form.