Heat coach Erik Spoelstra acknowledged injured guard Tyler Herro is “making progress,” but wanted to temper any excitement over his potential NBA Finals return.
“We’re really encouraged by the progress,” Spoelstra said ahead of Sunday’s second game. “He started working with contacts as soon as we got to Denver. You have to keep perspective. We want to be accountable about that. We’re all excited and encouraged by his progress, but we’ll be back in Miami. Whatever we’re doing is sticking to the process, trying to pile on the positive days, also understanding that it’s not trying to get back to a game in December, it’s the final, so there’s a bit context to that.
Herro last played on April 16, in the first round of the playoffs against Milwaukee, before suffering a broken right hand.
Herro averaged over 20 points per game in the regular season. If he returns and the Nuggets prepare like he does, he could energize Miami’s second unit.
To pay attention: Nuggets coach Michael Malone always has a pulse on what his opponents are saying, but it’s not like he watches interviews himself on the holidays.
“I get it from my assistant coaches,” Malone said. “I’m not sitting there reading the ticker. But we meet a lot, we talk a lot. When an opposing team only has two team free throw attempts and Jimmy Butler, who was third in the playoffs before this series at 9.1 per game and gets zero, that’s just the good sense they’re going to be a hell of a lot more aggressive, understanding they have to get there more than twice a game, because that’s what they’ve been.
“…It’s one thing, without hearing them, we already knew they were going to be a lot more aggressive because that’s what every team tends to do in these Playoffs,” Malone said.
Butler has repeatedly made a point of saying how badly he intends to head into Game 2. Once again, much of the blame will fall on Aaron Gordon, whose playoff defense has been phenomenal, that whether it’s against Kevin Durant, LeBron James or now Butler.
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