Connect with us

NBA

Tyler Herro’s Career Night, a Bucket-By-Bucket Breakdown

Tyler Herro is used to succeeding in the face of inexperience. The Milwaukee native shined as a freshman at Kentucky, taking the Wildcats to the Elite Eight as an 18 year-old. Now, at just 20, Tyler Herro is the youngest difference maker that the NBA playoffs have seen in a long time, having just put up a career-high 37 points to help lead the Miami HEAT to the brink of an NBA Finals appearance. At such a young age, it’s easy to question whether Herro’s recent brilliance is a product of a hot streak or the real deal. Let’s take a look at each of his made baskets in Game Four to see what the footage reveals.

Herro’s first bucket of the night might have been one of his toughest. Credit Robert Williams for not falling for Herro’s hesitation move at the top of the key and sticking with a quicker opponent. However, he may have revealed Boston’s cards too early. Watch how low he sinks when defending the screen (this type of defense is called ‘drop coverage’). This leaves the defense exposed to pull-up jumpers, which Herro readily took advantage of as the game progressed.

Here emerges the second theme of Herro’s night–utilizing his size to open up opportunities at the rim. Boston’s defense is completely out of whack here, resulting in Kemba Walker being tasked to guard Herro, who’s nearly half a foot taller than the four time All-Star. Though Cardiac Kemba did well to stay parallel with Herro, he didn’t get nearly enough lift while contesting the layup. 

Herro has now taken a breather between his last two scores, and it’s clear that he’s been informed of Williams’ habit of dropping the pick and roll. As opposed to his first bucket, Herro  immediately pulled the midrange jumper, and the backpedaling Williams couldn’t change direction quickly enough to bother him.

Jayson Tatum gets absolutely frozen here. How much can you blame him? This shoulder fake was crafty. There are veterans that don’t have the awareness to pull this move off. Though Herro had to shoot this one off one foot, his preying on Tatum guarding the pass lead to his easiest shot of the night.

In another flash of veteran craftiness, Herro made Tatum look like a fool again, this time with a Klay Thompson-esque pump fake. Every great shooter can put these up in their sleep, and the fact that Herro has this shot down bodes well for his future as one of the league’s top snipers.

This time Daniel Theis paid the price for playing drop coverage. This shot was downright cerebral. Herro deliberately maintained a low speed here, keeping Theis anticipating an acceleration. By the time he shielded his body by getting his knee up, there’s no way Theis would have been able disrupt him.

Williams was so far removed from this play that he might as well have been riding Space Mountain. The real star of this play was Bam Adebayo, who got away with some hand-to-hand contact in order to delay Jaylen Brown from getting over the screen. Going towards his dominant hand, this one was automatic for Herro.

One might think that Herro created this shot with the eurostep, but in truth, this shot starts at the spin move. Walker clearly anticipated that Herro would use the screen, so Herro’s decision to switch things up meant that Walker was forced to play catchup for over 30 feet. After that move, Herro erased Kemba’s ability to move one step ahead of his opponent, and the eurostep was just the nail in the defense’s coffin. 

This shot serves as the culmination of all the Celtics’ defensive shortcomings. It didn’t even matter that Adebayo effectively screened the air. Walker is way behind the play, and Theis has dropped down far too deep to get a hand in Herro’s face. 

Herro’s ability to decelerate was on full display yet again, slamming on the breaks to delay the shot contest from Kemba. Aside from some brilliant shotmaking, this jumper was also made possible by the sheer amount of spacing Miami brings. Tatum was within arms distance of blocking the shot, but because he was guarding Duncan Robinson (another one of the league’s premier shooters), helping with his man one pass away was out of the question.

At this point, it’s impossible to explain Boston’s decision making. Herro has been cashing threes this entire game, yet their refusal to switch this screen granted him another lightly contested jumper. Goran Dragic’s awkward positioning meant that Marcus Smart had the capacity to help Walker out, but he began the possession with his back turned. By the time he realized what happened, Miami had already gotten back on defense.

Moves like this elevated Herro’s night from a good game to a signature performance. This is an incredible finish from him, fooling both Theis and Tatum. However, Tatum subtly started this play at a disadvantage. He never got low enough to take up a proper defensive stance, and by the time Herro had taken off, Tatum standing vertical prevented him from catching up to him until it was too late. 

I’m gonna keep this one brief. This shot deserves all the adjectives. If All-Defensive First Teamer Marcus Smart couldn’t guard this, nobody can. Herro has some cojones.

As if you would need more evidence of Herro’s basketball savvy, his nightcap came as a result of an excellent cut. Smart, Tatum, and Walker all got caught ball-watching, and Brown was a second late on his rotation, which was all Herro needed to get a window for the last of his career-best 37 points.

Herro’s scorching night was both a result of hot shooting and rigid coaching from Brad Stevens. To that effect, his Game Five might be even more revealing, as Stevens and company will surely cook up a strategy that will prioritize limiting shooting over protecting the paint. On the cusp of basketball’s grandest stage, it will be Herro’s adaptability that determines how far the HEAT will go. 

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Featured Articles

Featured Writers

More in NBA