Southeast Notes: Herro, Heat, Magic, Robinson

Heat guard Tyler Herro showed flashes of brilliance in the team’s 119-112 loss to the Suns on Saturday, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes.

Herro, who’s still in his rookie season, recorded 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists on 10-for-16 shooting, putting forth one of his best games this year. Despite his impressive play, Miami still lost the contest due to poor defense, injured players, and questionable rotations.

“I’m not happy with the way we’re playing,” Bam Adebayo said. “We got to get over this hump. We’re in a gray cloud that we can’t get out of. It’s my job as a leader and as a quote unquote vet to really hone in and really lead this team to a victory. Even though we have two major guys out, the next man up and I got do a better job of leading this team to victory.”

Miami has lost three of its last four games and currently owns a 2-3 record in Orlando. The Heat are slated to face the Pacers on Monday in a showdown likely featuring Jimmy Butler and T.J. Warren, with Butler telling the New York Times’ Marc Stein (Twitter link) that he’s on track to return from injury.

It’s unclear whether Goran Dragic (ankle) will be available for the contest, though he did practice on Sunday. Starting point guard Kendrick Nunn (personal) will miss the game after leaving the NBA’s campus and returning over the weekend.

Here are some more notes from the Southeast Division:

• Multiple Heat members have been forced to deal with COVID-19 testing glitches, naturally causing some uneasy moments for the team, Barry Jackson details in a story for the Miami Herald.  According to ESPN, an inconclusive test generally happens in five out of every 1,000 tests. Any player who receives an inconclusive result must test negative in an immediate retest, then again within one hour of a game’s tip-off.
• The Magic can apply for a Disabled Player Exception worth $3.78MM starting in October, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Orlando lost forward Jonathan Isaac for the season after he sustained a torn ACL and torn meniscus last week. The exception would allow the team to sign, acquire or claim a player on a one-year contract if Isaac is considered likely to miss all of next season.
• Wizards guard Jerome Robinson has shown consistency at the NBA’s campus in Orlando, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. Robinson was averaging 17 points in four games heading into the team’s contest against Oklahoma City on Sunday, where he exceeded his average by recording 19 points with six assists.