Meet Miami's Unsung Herro
In sports parlance, "hero ball" has a largely negative connotation.
But "Herro ball"? That's a different story.
Miami Heat rookie Tyler Herro resembles no newcomer, and his career performance in Game 4's 112-102 victory against the Boston Celtics has the Heat one win away from a trip to the NBA Finals.
And his eye-popping numbers have people asking: Who is this 20-year-old phenom, exactly?
Well, aside from a headline writer's dream, Herro is also a superstar in the making.
But to get to Wednesday night's statement game, we first have to go back to Herro's amateur days.
A consensus 4-star recruit out of Wisconsin, Herro originally committed to staying in-state to play for the Badgers.
However, when Coach Cal and Kentucky came calling, Herro switched course for the SEC.
Herro started all 37 games for the Wildcats his freshman year, picking up SEC Freshman of the Week honors three times before being named to the All-SEC Second Team and All-Freshman team.
He led the team with 60 3-pointers and averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game during his time in Lexington.
And while Herro and the Wildcats crashed out of the 2019 NCAA Tournament in inauspicious fashion, Herro had no regrets about his year there and opted to make the jump to the NBA.
Miami plucked Herro with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and the youngster made an instant impression on the team.
In his first Summer League game, Herro scored a game-high 18 points (via five 3-pointers), dished out 4 assists, and grabbed 3 rebounds and a steal against the Lakers.
In the regular season with Miami, Herro averaged a more-than-respectable 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 27.4 minutes per game as a rookie.
The best was yet to come, though, as the Heat settled into the playoffs and the bubble.
Herro's failed to crack double digits in points scored just once in the bubble, and that effort came in the first game down in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
What's more, he's turned into a different animal during Miami's playoff run, averaging 16.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 13 games.
It's those numbers, along with Wednesday's monster game, that has many saying Herro is ready to make his star turn.
Chris Broussard wasn't quite ready to anoint Herro just yet on Thursday's episode of First Things First, however.
"I'm not ready to push all my chips into the middle of the table ... but I am willing to say this: It was the type of performance that makes me wonder, 'OK, is this guy going to be a star?'"
The ingredients are certainly there for Herro to enter another stratosphere, ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler noted, especially if the Heat guard continues his current rapid rise.
"It's the handle, it's the finishing ability, it's either hand, it's opposite foot, it's the Euro-step. He's doing things now at such a rapid progression. It sometimes takes guys two, three years to improve as much as we've seen Tyler Herro improve."
It's not just commentators that are all aboard the Herro hype train, either.
His Heat teammates, which include multi-year veterans like Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, talked about Herro's impact.
With just one more win to go before a date in the NBA Finals, Herro's story is just getting started.
He and the Heat will look to add another chapter when Game 5 tips off Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.