Coup’s Takeaways: Herro Goes Supernova In Third As Heat Dispatch Lakers Behind Multiple Franchise Records
- wgclients01
- Dec 9, 2024
- 5 min read
1. Both the HEAT and Lakers have had losses they wish they could get back in recent weeks, Miami losers of three of their past five and Lakers losers of five of their past seven. When teams enduring similar stretches like that meet, you’ll often see one of get right during the matchup while the other leaves still in search of traction.
There is zero doubt which team was which tonight.
Good LeBron James – he’s about to turn 40 in a few weeks – minutes to start this one, scoring all six of Los Angeles’ first points, but after a couple misses the HEAT started finding each and every three that didn’t fall the other night in Boston. Coupled with a series of somewhat ugly Lakers turnovers and before anyone could catch their breath Miami was up 23-9. Bench rotations showed a little life for the visitors but it didn’t get much better from there, Miami up 34-26 after the first quarter thanks to seven threes, four steals and six offensive boards.
Nights like this are always interesting because Miami was shooting so well it almost covered up anything else they were doing. Were they playing that much better than they had in Toronto or Boston, or were they just making half of their threes (11-of-22 at one point before the half, 11-of-24 at the half)? It’s a question worth asking yourself when it comes to the big picture to try and capture meaningful trends, but in the short term in doesn’t matter much at all.
You enjoy the upswings in percentages knowing they just as much outliers as the slower nights and you enjoy the success that comes with them. While the Lakers were being held together by James and mostly only James in the first half on both sides of the floor – he sniffed out a number of HEAT actions to create stops and steals where otherwise the Lakers were in search of multiple efforts – the HEAT ran their stuff, hit their shots and had a 69-52 advantage at the break, four starters in double figures including Bam Adebayo (6-of-7 for 14 points).
The Lakers opened their comeback bid in the second half with Anthony Davis trying to isolate Adebayo on consecutive possessions, which didn’t go well, and two Tyler Herro threes later Miami’s lead was back up over 20. Teams could always go hot or cold at any points, but the HEAT remained the team playing with more life and getting better, easier looks.
A few minutes later, Herro (31 points on 19 shots) had hit his fifth three of the period, Miami was up 25 and the Lakers weren’t showing much signs of an imminent comeback effort. Herro kept it up, and so did the Lakers in the opposite direction, Herro up to seven threes in the period and Miami up 30.
Both sides played out the string from there, all drama left far behind. Miami hit a couple of franchise records, tied for threes with 24 and a new record in assists with 42, as they secured a 41-point victory, 134-93. It was, quite literally, the best game you could have possibly expected coming into it.
2. We’ve noted this a couple times already this season but one of the most encouraging aspects with the way Herro is playing this season, within the parameters of his new shot profile goals, is that he hasn’t changed his process when the game isn’t going his way. Herro was 4-of-11 in the first half but eight of those attempts were threes with the rest in the paint, exactly the profile he’s set his sights on. The make or miss of it all didn’t get to him and when many of the same shots came his way – created for him, created by him, often both at the same time via his movement off the ball – in the third quarter he kept to the same process, hit seven threes in the quarter and wrapped up the game almost on the spot. An incredible quarter to add to what has been the best season of his career.
That third-quarter performance was also glimpse into where the Lakers are, having the opposite of a get-right night. There aren’t many teams in the league that are going to allow Herro (9-of-16 from three) to have seven attempts from three in any quarter, and there certainly aren’t many teams that are going to give him the quality of looks he was getting even after two, three or four makes in a row, with Lakers defenders going under on screens and giving Herro plenty of space. Those coverage calls likely weren’t the intention of the team but when you’re playing discombobulated, with players not on the same page, you’re going to make mistakes no matter what you talked about in a practice, shootaround, film session or timeout huddle. The HEAT may not always be playing their best, but they generally play to the same identity, to the same plan, as best they can, each night. And when a player is hurting them the way Herro was hurting the Lakers, they get the ball out of their hands.
3. When you surpass franchise records in assists and threes you probably aren’t going to need to go over the game tape with a fine-tooth comb, but there is a brief comparison we’d like to make.
Adebayo clearly hasn’t been happy with his offensive production of late as he’s been below 40 percent from the floor in all his last four games. He could have come out tonight trying to prove something against one of his most direct competitors for Defensive Player of the Year in any season, but Adebayo played the entire game in the flow, getting to 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and seven assists in just 25 minutes. Nothing forced, just what needed to be done to secure the win.
A little different circumstances on the Lakers side of things where they don’t necessarily have the supplementary offensive creation to rely on to always get Anthony Davis going, but it was particularly stark when the Lakers, down double digits and trying to find the energy to spark a comeback, opened the third quarter with static Davis attacks, isolations and post-ups, going right at Adebayo and missing both shots. There are clearly some things going on with the Lakers beyond the understanding of those who don’t follow them game to game, but it was a bit of a microcosm of the evening that Miami’s center put his own struggles aside and helped his team get right while the Lakers, when teetering on the edge, had nothing else but Davis (3-of-14 for eight points) forcing the issue against the worst matchup on the floor.