The Heat will be missing the Sixth Man of the Year on Monday, announcing today (via Twitter) that Tyler Herro has been ruled out for Game 4 due to his left groin strain. He has previously been listed as questionable.
Although Herro will be unavailable for Monday’s contest, he doesn’t believe his groin injury will be a long-term issue. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), Herro is still feeling some discomfort when he runs, but he’s targeting a Game 5 return on Wednesday.
Miami had also listed Jimmy Butler (right knee inflammation), Kyle Lowry (left hamstring strain), Max Strus (right hamstring strain), P.J. Tucker (left knee irritation) and Gabe Vincent (left hamstring strain) as questionable for Game 4, but all five players appear on track to play, per the team.
The plan is for Butler, Lowry, Strus, Tucker, and Vincent to go through warm-ups with the intent to play, so they’ll be available unless they suffer a setback during their pre-game routines.
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 with Herro sidelined. Assuming they get the green light to suit up, Lowry, Strus, and Vincent will also have major backcourt roles as Miami looks to take a 3-1 lead over Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Not a single time in 8 years….
Lol you knew what I was going to say
I was waiting for you bro. Good stuff I feel you like I said last week.
I thought it was possible. To be honest, I’m more cool with this than if Butler or Pj Tucker are out, but it’s still super frustrating…literally havent been healthy a single game in years, and also every time it looks like they’re going to get healthy, something happens, especially at the worst possible times. People dont remember, but the 1 time they were relatively healthy, they made the finals, only for the entire team to get hurt in game 1 when they were up by 18. Woth all 3 of Butler, Bam, and Dragic on the floor in that series, they had a large positive plus/minus. Even with that, they pushed it to 6 games with a couple of close losses, yet people act like they should have never been there in the first place/havent done anything during these last 8 years
They lost Chris Bosh the day they traded for Dragic, and then lost him again a year later, both times to coincidental blood clots, and then still made it to a game 7 to almost make the ECF, but also had more injuries in that series…
Not saying that there arent teams with bad injury luck frequently. I’m just saying that this is just a constant
Yep you’re exactly right. My only way to relate is back in the 90s when the Warriors pulled off the Chris Webber Penny Hardaway trade.
The warriors were a 50 win team and needed one good big man. What happened? Tim Hardaway tore his ACL. Done deal end of story.
Ya that was definitely a big blow. Heat in 2000 got all those guys, and then Zo had the kidney issue…and then he incredibly came back late in the year, but Anthony Mason was salty about it, and caused problems, and even Tim Hardaway being amazing that year couldn’t help them against Baron Davis, who almost single handedly (David Wesley played really well in that sefies too, if I recall correctly) beat them in a year where they could have been title contenders
Both teams have 8 players questionable
With the Warriors clicking on all cylinders and all their best players healthy right now …
Just seems like Miami and Boston are beating eachother up just to see who gets the chance to be completely smashed in the finals.
Maybe a healthy Boston or Miami could make it interesting, but they’re both so banged up. Now it looks like the warriors will be able to get a few days off before the finals, while the other teams keep beating on eachother. I really hope it’s not going to go down like that, but it’s really starting to look like it will.
i think boston is in a better place from a health standpoint & also, even though theyre down, i think theyre in a better position to win the series. they would make it a good series w. GS either way.
Although Boston is in a better situation health-wise, I believe Miami is better equipped to deal with injuries, if that makes sense (given their depth).
Golden State will likely benefit from the fatigue of whichever team emerges from this battle, but I don’t believe they’ll “smash” either team. Miami is comparable to Memphis in my opinion, who gave GS a better fight than Dallas. Boston’s bench is rather short, but I like how their wings match up with those of the Warriors. I would still favor the Warriors, but I think it will at least be a 6 game series
Boston vs GS would have been a lot better a couple of years ago, or before Boston made the trades they did a couple of months ago. Boston would also have to use the guys they’re still not using, but I do think they could play them tough. They previously usually did, but they had more depth then.
The Heat need to be healthy, but the reason I picked GS to beat them early in the season is b/c if healthy, they have 2-3 extra pieces the Heat dont have in the matchup, even though they are somewhat similar teams otherwise
I don’t think the Warriors will “completely smash” either team. Miami and Boston are much more complete teams than Dallas and both have excellent defenses. Should be a good series no matter who plays, now that Dallas is on the outs.
All of the rotation stuff I talked about came into play. If Butler is out, it changes things again. In that case, Yurtseven might be the play, and Duncan Robinson, and Haywood Highsmith should see minutes. No Dedmon.
With Herro out, they definitely could use both those options on the wing, and it would be nice to get a good shooting game from Lowry or Vincent. I expect Boston to stay with the short rotation, at this point, although I still think certain people should be playing for them
Bam making that huge shot at the end of the shot clock right around that time Strus hit that big 3 was a shot we’ve known for a couple of years he can make, but he just never takes it. Hope to see more aggression from Bam when he catches it below the 3 point line
Interesting stat, that Miami has only won two quarters in this series.
Boston appears to have them figured out. They do their fantastic switching and tease the Heat handlers with maybe-shots and they get confused, pass or shoot or drive. Celts are stalking for blocks and Miami gets indecisive.
Oladipo is MIA’s ironman!