Miami Heat's Tyler Herro Struggling During Conference Finals
It is no secret Tyler Herro hasn’t been himself in the Eastern Conference finals.
ESPN hoops analyst Kendrick Perkins drove home the point Friday on First Take.
“Where’s Tyler Herro?” Kendrick Perkins said. “At the beginning of the season, Tyler Herro said ‘Hey, when you mention Luka Doncic, when you mention Trae Young, you need to start mentioning my name and putting my name in the conversation.’”
Perkins thinks he needs to take advantage of the opportunity.
“No Kyle Lowry. No P.J. Tucker, probably for Game 3," Perkins said. "Guess what, the stage is set. He’s going against a guy, Jayson Tatum, that’s around your age, superstar status. And now you have a time to elevate your game and rise to the occasion.”
He also believes Herro is the most important piece of the puzzle right now.
“I think Tyler Herro is the biggest key," Perkins said. "If you go back and look two years ago in the bubble, it was him, Jimmy Butler. Yeah Bam (Adebayo) had some good games throughout that series on the defensive side of things but Tyler Herro was the X-factor. And these two games, he hasn’t really put his imprint on it.”
Perkins suggested Hero gets more minutes. He's averaged 25 minutes in the series.
“I think Erik Spolestra gotta take the handcuffs off him a little bit,” Perkins said. “He gotta let those guys ride.”
Speaking on First Take, former NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire said he was concerned about Herro's focus.
“My question to that is, Tyler Herro, where’s his focus?” Stoudemire said. “Where’s the focus on basketball? After the bubble, he had a great run in the bubble, but ever since then it’s like ‘Hey, where’s the hero?’”
Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson
