Heat guard Tyler Herro (left groin strain) will miss Wednesday’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston, tweets Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said Herro was itching to return to action after missing Game 4’s 102-82 blowout loss, but the team’s training staff thought it would be irresponsible to let him play, so he was held out (Twitter link via Jackson). The groin injury isn’t considered to be a long-term concern, but obviously the Heat are being cautious with their Sixth Man of the Year winner after seeing Kyle Lowry re-injure his hamstring against Philadelphia.
The Celtics will have their full starting lineup intact for the first time this series, as both Marcus Smart (sprained right ankle) and Robert Williams (knee soreness) will be active tonight, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Smart missed Game 4 with the injury, while Williams missed Game 3.
Boston head coach Ime Udoka said the Defensive Player of the Year isn’t 100 percent healthy, but his mobility is “good enough” to play through the pain.
“He (Smart) has enough movement where he’s not restricted in certain areas like a few days ago,” Udoka said.
As for Williams, Udoka said he won’t have any type of minutes restriction, but added that the team is hopeful to reduce his minutes if possible (Twitter links via Weiss).
All three players had previously been listed as questionable for Wednesday’s crucial Game 5. The series is currently tied at two games apiece.
Miami holds home-court advantage and would host a potential Game 7 if it gets that far, but Boston has looked like the slightly better team through four games, posting a +7.7 net rating. In our poll earlier today, a bit more than 72 percent of our readers predicted the Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals.
With Herro sidelined, Victor Oladipo, who has emerged as a regular part of the Heat’s rotation since midway through the first-round series vs. Atlanta, figures to once again play significant minutes. Oladipo contributed 23 points, four rebounds and six assists in Game 4, but unfortunately for Miami, he outscored the entire starting lineup (23 to 18). The Heat will need a much more balanced effort to take Game 5 and the lead in the series.
Rank (or top3) these SEC greats as far as who you think will end up having had the best overall pro career.. Tyler Herro, Ben Simmons, Anthony Edwards, Robert Williams, Jabari Smith Jr, Alex Caruso, Collin Sexton, Al Horford…
What kinda question is that? Al Horford is 10 years older then everyone else?
It’s a basketball question, NBA specifically. Aye if it’s too much for you to consider Al alongside the younger guys then feel free to exclude him & work with the other 7. I was close to having Jeff Malone on the list too so be thankful that didn’t happen. Al is a basketball player who you’ve seen a bunch of times now. It’s just do you think Herro or Sexton is gonna be better than him or not? You can explain your reasoning or not
I cant say anything about the kid in the current draft yet b/c I’m starting my prep later this week, but I’ll go with Ben Simmons. I’m a big fan of Al Horford, and he would be the answer right now, and I would probably pick him over the other guys regardless, but if Simmons comes back healthy, it will eventually be him
Define pro career? They were all probably paid while in college, so then Big Al would have a huge lead. If you just mean NBA its pretty wide open excluding Sexton and Caruso
Oladipo is 50% of Herro
Heat 3 pointers need to go in 45% to win
Sitting here in my seat, and thinking that if I dont see the rotations I’ve been talking about tonight, I’m going to be really annoyed. It’s one thing to potentially lose; it’s another to give yourselves a lot less chance
Dipo should make up for a lot.
Ya I’m not worried about the Herro issue as much as it would be with Butler or PJ tucker, but it’s the other stuff I’ve been talking about that needs to happen for them to have a better shot at winning this.
Also would be nice to see the game not officiated totally one sided where 1 guy has more fts in the first half than the entire team for 2 games, but I’m not too worried about that. Mostly just the rotation, especially considering there are multiple options there better than what they’ve been doing
My comment did not age well! 1for5 FGs.
JVG was really down on MIA all game long. Breen made a comment about Dipo’s singing ability and JVG went off again about Dipo’s shooting. Funny except for his trend of such critiques… Maybe he had some inside info about Heat players not going hard except for runs. IDK, Butler was lagging, but he had hurts supposedly.
To me, the Heat did not set up Robinson enough. Like, bately at all. Boston really stuck on him on his plays, usually White, but still, gotta do it somehow. Everyone else was missing to possibly a historical amount, 7for45. Robinson looked good but was forcing it at the end. Celts made their run when he was out. More Yurtseven!
Commentary besides Hubie Brown is trash in the league, and I especially cant listen to Mark Jackson. I hope he gets a job, so I dont have to hear him anymore
You see what I’m saying though about Duncan opening up space. He gets chased by multiple guys. I felt like it ultimately came down to make or miss, and there was a lot of questionable officiating, but I also would have liked to see the Heat at least attempt to counter those lineups with Grant Williams and Horford, and I also think they should have gone to smaller lineups with both Robinson and Strus or Highsmith out there for spacing at certain times, especially since they’re missing Herro’s shooting, and with Lowry not healthy enough to knock down shots either. Ultimately, those few possessions where they couldn’t buy a basket really was the game. Boston isnt going to miss forever. There was a stretch in the 2nd quarter where I liked the matchups on the floor for the Heat, and they did take some advantage of it, but not enough. I said at the time, they could have used 2 or 3 of those shots to fall in that stretch, which would have built a bigger lead, and gave them a cushion when Boston changed their lineup in the 2nd half
Have to give Udoka credit though. For how poor a job he did most of the season, after Brad Stevens forgot how to coach in the ECF a couple of years ago as well, he made the necessary move to Williams and Horford, and away from Rob Williams in those lineups, and the Heat never countered, again
Lowry looked old basically, while doing the right things.
Yes “chased by multiple guys” is the picture of it. There should bexways ti take
MIA 32%FGs, 16%3ptrs, 14assists
Heat won first 2 qrtrs (total 4 now), then 38-56 second half
Boston starting the 2nd half with Grant Williams and Horford, which the Heat cant matchup with with their starting unit, unless they make shits, which they havent. Those 2 guys present the biggest matchup issues in the whole series. They left those lineups out there to dry for too long…
When Horford and Rob Williams or both Williams are out there together, I’d consider Yurtseven.
…I also said this might come down to make or miss, and that isn’t working out for the Heat tonight. Cant miss the shots they’ve missed so consistently. Eventually Boston will make shots