6:36pm: Smart and Williams will both be active for Boston, reports Tim Bontemps of ESPN (via Twitter).
6:06pm: Heat guard Tyler Herro is expected to be sidelined for Friday’s Game 6 against Boston, league sources told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Herro suffered a left groin strain in Game 3 and will now miss Games 4, 5 and 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals with the injury. He was a limited participant in the team’s shootaround this morning, but “experienced discomfort while sliding defensively,” Haynes reports.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed that Herro will be out, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
“He’s definitely made progress, but he’s not quite ready to step into this kind of intensity of a game,” Spoelstra said.
It makes sense to be cautious with a muscle strain, as they can be notoriously tricky to deal with and easily re-injured, like what happened with teammate Kyle Lowry‘s hamstring strain in the previous series. Lowry hasn’t looked like himself since he originally sustained the injury more than a month ago.
After averaging 20.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists on .447/.399/.868 shooting in 66 regular season games (32.6 minutes), Herro saw his numbers drop off in the postseason, averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists on .413/.232/.926 shooting in 14 games. Still, his absence will certainly be felt by the Heat, as they’ve struggled mightily to score without the Sixth Man of the Year winner, posting just 82 points in Game 4 and 80 in Game 5, both losses.
On Boston’s side, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka told reporters, including Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link), that both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams are game-time decisions for the potential close-out contest. Boston currently leads Miami 3-2.
Smart and Williams had previously been listed as questionable, and it seems we won’t know their status until later this evening. Game 6 tips off at 7:30pm CT on ESPN.
Herro looking on point in shades. Albeit not the point. Heat have to get Robinson his shots. Celtics chase him hard to his spots, so pick off the second man too, or someone get open 4vs3.
IMO
Please do not use “Questionable” again for injury.
There is integrity issue on all “questionables”.
Let’s say there are “6 questionables” each day in your team and all 6 players play every game at full strength.
As long as the Heat have Oladipo, they’ll be fine.
Boston v GSW could save the playoffs
Let’s set the date tonight
Would be fun.
Without Jokic, Giannis, Embiid & Luka left, there is no way to save the playoffs, no exciting teams or players left in it!
Heat have 4 starters + Herro that wouldnt be playing if this was the regular season. Lowry literally cant even walk, but comes up huge. All the people talking $#!+. Jimmy Buckets with 1 of the most impressive games in a long time; I personally have to put it above LeBron 10 years ago. Game 7 in Miami on sunday. Should I keep my ticket, or go for the money I lost out on from the pandemic? Finally out of my cast, so slightly easier to go
Kind of interesting how Duncan Robinson has fallen to the end of the bench. I’m a casual Heat fan and given what you just reported, it’s strange. The kid can shoot. What happened?
This cant be the reason b/c it’s not the Heat style to do this, especially when they need him, but apparently it makes it impossible for him to get the extra $10 million in incentives by holding him out of playoff games/not playing him a certain amount of minutes in the playoffs
Again, I dont think that’s the reason. There has been a ridiculous narrative about Duncan all season after he started the first 12-23 games of the season poorly, even though he was better than ever in every other area, and put up his usual numbers the rest of the year. He struggled a bit again to end the season, and Strus is slightly better defensively, and matched up better against certain teams. He struggled himself, outside of a couple of games, and the matchup changed after that first round, and they still never went back. It’s very strange b/c I’ve said over and over how much they need him
Ultimately my main guess is this is one of those rare times where Spo decides to mess with the rotation for no real reason in a situation that matters, and it might cost us for the 3rd time in his career. He obviously thinks we have enough, and theoretically they do, but its reliant on certain things, like them knocking down shots without Robinson, and guys like Lowry being healthy…
Also while the Celtocs have taken advantage of their big advantage in the series with Grant Williams and Al Horford, they havent exactly used their best rotation either, which helps slightly
Best explanation possible, I guess. Very strange to be a pure shooter who can be counted on in the clutch and land in what looks to be the doghouse.
I’ve written before that I just never saw Spoelstra as a genius. Above all, he falls asleep on guys on the bench and forgets about players he’s taken out to get a breather for long durations. But this? It’s not falling asleep
You mention Strus and I just don’t see it. I guess it’s his defensive prowess as he’s not shooter Robinson is. And in this series as the one before, they could have used Duncan’s shot
This comes off as me being some huge fan of Duncan Robinson. On the contrary, it just has seemed to me the the team won despite Spoelstra against the Sixers and the 3 so far here. Why shut down an offensive weapon?
It’s not even just that though. Even when he doesnt knock down shots, he gives them so much more space on the floor, which helps their other guys. That’s the part that has bothered me about it, as everyone else hasnt been able to knock down shots in a make or miss series
Obv I’m surprised too about DR and I suspect there’s some influence going on. Strus is getting all the shooter minutes but is not that good or hot. DR is trying hard but the team timing has been off.
The tv guys, JVG & Breen, have been so negative about the Heat they sound bitter. Why?— I suspect they understand some extracirriculars are going on.
Butler can barely run one game and two days later cannot be contained; similar to a lesser extent with Lowry. Strus looks like he’s on fire, impressive, while DR just does his usual dorky look.
Margins have fluncuated as wildly as Adebayo’s points like the intent is to influence betting.
Sorry, it all adds up to conspiracy. Butler can be a bit sinister and devil-may-care, much as I like his game. There is the DR contract incentives though it does not seem like a big deal.
Amyway. Moving on
It’s well known the media hates the Heat. Everyone was incredibly salty last might. Windhorst looked mad after the game too lol, probably b/c Jimmy outshined Lebron from 10 years ago.
There have been big runs by both teams, and the previous game went back and forth. Its b/c these are similar teams, and in reality, only a few possessions really change these games. Make or miss, as I said before the series
Are you trying to suggest they’re faking injuries?