Miami Heat star Tyler Herro made an explosive return from a rib injury, scoring his game-leading 24 points to help the team defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 128-97, on Friday night. The guard will be coming off the bench in his first game. As the Heat guard Herro looks to excel over the remainder of the season, head coach Erik Spoelstra talks about Herro's role with 25 games remaining.
Herro was impressive in his debut as he had missed the previous 15 games due to a "right costochondral; rib injury", which began when the guard fractured three ribs on January 10. Although he played in three games after taking Torodol shots to suppress pain, he missed time, which led to Spoelstra coming off the bench on Friday, saying he was managing his minutes and trying to "maximize" the rest of the season.
"Right now we're trying to get him out of there," Spoelstra said, according to The Miami Herald. "We're going to manage the minutes. I'm not thinking too much about it, I'm not putting anything into it, I don't have a timeline for anything."
Heat's Erik Spoelstra fit in with Tyler Herro and Norman Powell
After Herro returned to Heat practice on Thursday, it cannot be denied that the team is relatively cautious as the guard has missed 45 of 57 games this season due to numerous injuries.
Herro also had to come off the bench in a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 6 after returning from a 13-game absence due to a toe injury. But Herro returned to the starting lineup in the next game, which could indicate a similar outcome for the current situation.
He and Powell had an interesting pairing early in the season, but on Friday they had to run in different lineups, with the two playing less than three minutes together. But, Spoelstra says those two will need to spend more minutes together, as Powell also emphasized the "versatility" of the two fitting together.
"It'll work," Spoelstra said about playing Herro and Powell together. "I'm not thinking too much about it at all."
It remains to be seen how Herro's role develops, especially with Norman Powell, as Miami next faces the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
