When Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro fractured his right hand in Game 1 of the first-round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, many assumed Miami’s season was over. nearly a month later, Herro is on track to return during the NBA Finals.
Herro suffered a fractured right hand in the first game of the playoffs, with doctors expecting him to miss four-to-six weeks of action. It meant Miami would be without its third-leading scorer for a majority of the playoffs, putting more pressure on Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo to perform.
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Both All-Stars delivered for Miami. Butler averaged 27.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.9 steals in the 17 games Herro missed. With Adebayo averaging 17.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, the Heat reached the NBA Finals.
While Miami walked away from Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets with a 104-93 loss, shooting 33.3% from the perimeter, there is some optimism for Herro’s return.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there is a distinct possibility that Herro could return for Game 2 on Sunday night in Denver. Miami will use the next two days to determine if his hand can take contact
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If Herro isn’t cleared to return on Sunday, it’s viewed as a near certainty that he would rejoin the team for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night in Miami.
Herro’s return would be significant for a team that ranked 10th in scoring (110.7 ppg) during the NBA playoffs and ranked fifth in three-pointers made per game (13.1). While Denver is still heavily favored to win the series, ending one of the longest NBA championship droughts, Miami would gain confidence and scoring from Herro’s return.
