Tyler Herro led the Miami Heat to a 112-109 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. In the process, he recorded 37 points on 14 of 21 shooting and chipped in six rebounds.
Over the 24 hours that followed Herro’s jersey became the highest-selling in the NBA.
Although everyone else couldn’t stop talking about Herro on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Heat rookie remained very quiet. Nobody heard anything from him. This led many to wonder how he celebrated his big night.
Fortunately, Herro’s girlfriend, Katya Elise Henry, provided the answer to that on Twitter.
— KATYA ELISE HENRY (@katyaelisehenry) September 24, 2020
Safe to say the 20-year-old had a fun couple of days.
Herro’s rookie campaign has been an objective success.
In the regular season he averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Once the playoffs commenced, however, he stepped it up a notch – averaging 16.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
Yikes. https://t.co/1DEd7KVQVT
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 24, 2020
The Heat youngster is also shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from beyond the arc in the playoffs.
After Game 4, Jimmy Butler couldn’t stop raving about how good Herro was.
“Not too many people get an opportunity to make it this far in the playoffs and to be in a game like this,” he said.
Folks couldn’t help but laugh at the photos. https://t.co/7s1Gskb4YC
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 24, 2020
“But for him, it’s another day at the office. I think it makes all of us smile. We’re all so happy for him because he knows what he’s capable of, and he just plays with so much confidence. He’s been doing it all year long. So to him, there’s no pressure or anything. He’s just going to keep playing basketball the right way.”
Team head coach Erik Spoelstra said something similar.
“Nobody was paying attention to us during the year,” he said.
“[Herro] had a lot of tough moments,” he continued. “He did. He had some moments where it was up and down and learning about our demands on defense.
You definitely don’t wanna be on Allen Iverson’s bad side. https://t.co/tV2FsTAvng
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 24, 2020
“But he is a worker, and he shows up the next day trying to get better every single day, and usually those incremental improvements every single day, and he earns the trust. I think it’s more important earning the trust of his teammates than the coaching staff, but it’s that daily grind when nobody is watching and doing it when most people don’t.”
Miami will need another big performance from Herro on Friday night.
The Celtics will be fighting for their season, so team head coach Brad Stevens will no doubt have his group chomping at the bits – ready to win at all costs.
Game 5 between the Heat and Celtics tips off at 5:30 pm PT on ESPN. If Boston wins, the squad lives on to fight another day. Should Miami emerge victorious, then it will mark the franchise’s first return to the NBA Finals since 2014.
Related: Bruce Arians, Tom Brady Get Brutally Honest About Rob Gronkowski
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
