The one way to make the Tyler Herro-Norman Powell combo click

As Erik Spoelstra and the Heat were looking for solutions within a healthy rotation, he made a move on Wednesday night against Cleveland that was a bit of a surprise.

Pelle Larsson to the bench, Norman Powell to the first unit.

Starting off with these 5️⃣🔥 pic.twitter.com/BSRVRBiW8K
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 25, 2026

There's no doubt that Powell is deserving of a starting role. He had an All Star season, carried Miami on that end for a long stretch of the early season, and can be a real knockdown scoring weapon.

But the issue has been the cohesion and chemistry of Tyler Herro and himself out there on the floor.

Walking into this season and evaluating this duo on paper, we knew the defensive side of the ball would cause some trouble. Two options late in games for high end offensive players to attack one-on-one.

Yet the idea was that the offensive side of things would be above average to counter some of the other weaknesses.

Up to this point, that hasn't been the case.

So as the team has been on the lookout for answers, many people have asked understandable questions on how could they possibly turn the tide.

There was only one answer, and the two guards showed by example tonight against the Cavaliers.

Key stats so far:

Tyler Herro - 11 points | 4 of 6 shooting | 3 of 4 from three

Norman Powell - 11 points | 4 of 6 shooting | 3 of 5 from deep

This isn’t a coincidence
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) March 26, 2026

Part of the problems in the half court offense for these guys has been the over-dribbling. Whether it's been the foul baiting from Powell or the extended creation from Herro, it's caused a dynamic where these two scorers have been forced to take turns.

The way to make it semi-work? Three point shooting off the catch.

When we envisioned this duo prior to the season, we were all thinking about creation from Herro out of a two man action with Powell ready to shoot on the weak-side from three. Or vice versa.

If these two guys just straight up bomb away from three and let shots fly off the catch, it can fix many of the blockages they've ran into on that end of the floor.

Tonight in the first half, the stat-lines of these guys weren't a coincidence: 13 points on 3 of 5 shooting from three for Powell, 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting from three for Herro.

A combined 3 attempts from two point land, while they went 2 for 3 including a nice step back baseline jumper from Herro and a catch and go floater off glass for Powell.

Nobody is trying to take their attacking ability away. It's elite how Powell leverages his three point threat into drives, and the Herro floater is always going to be a priority.

But the way to enhance their minutes together will continue to be that three point line. If they're turning down looks from beyond the arc in those lineups, Miami will be up against the shot clock way too often, especially against good teams and defenses.

We will see if this can be sustained, but it's definitely something Erik Spoelstra and the staff is pushing for. Making things easier on their two back-court scorers.