The Miami Heat, as they often seem to do, scored a surprising 130-117 upset win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
But it came at a cost, as Tyler Herro suffered a broken hand and will be likely out for the rest of the postseason.
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro broke the middle and ring finger on his shooting hand and is expected to be out appropriately 4-6 weeks, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 17, 2023
This is a fatal blow for Miami, as Herro may be its only player other than Jimmy Butler who has the ability to explode and get hot on any given night by getting his own shots off the dribble.
Bam Adebayo, who had 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists on Sunday, is a fine offensive threat in his own right, but he is a team player to a fault.
Herro was playing fairly well when he went down, as he had 12 points on 5-of-9 overall shooting and 2-of-4 from 3-point range in 19 minutes. The Heat, who were the only NBA team to average less than 110 points a game in the regular season, will have trouble generating enough points to seriously threaten the Bucks moving forward.
The Bucks are dealing with their own key injury though. Giannis Antetokounmpo left the contest early with a back problem, and although their head coach Mike Budenholzer said the superstar’s X-ray came back negative, his status for Game 2 seems to be in some doubt.
Herro’s absence will put a lot of pressure on Butler, who had 35 points and 11 assists in Game 1, as well as on complementary players such as Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Kevin Love, Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry to manufacture points.
Miami had six players in double figures on Sunday, but it’s hard to imagine the Bucks, who were fourth in defensive rating in the regular season, allowing that type of balanced output again.
Game 2 of this best-of-seven series will be on Wednesday, which will at least give Erik Spoelstra and crew time to figure out how to compete without Herro.
