Tyler Herro is younger than many undergraduate students at Tufts but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang with the best basketball players in the world. The 20-year-old rookie scored 37 points on 14 for 21 shooting in the Miami Heat’s 112–109 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday. Herro scored 17 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, showing off a polished offensive skill set that features a lethal 3-point shot, smooth midrange game and great touch around the rim.
Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Goran Dragic scored 22 points and Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 12 rebounds, as the Heat took a commanding 3–1 series lead.
Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens heaped praise upon Herro inhis postgame press conference.
“Herro’s shot making tonight … was the difference in the game," Stevens said. "Jimmy was great late. Adebayo was his typical self. Dragic made some big plays. But Herro was ridiculously good tonight. That rim must have looked like the ocean to him.”
The Heat led by nine points with 56 seconds left in the fourth quarter before the Celtics began to knock down shots. Back-to-back threes from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, followed by three free throws from Kemba Walker cut the Heat lead to two with nine seconds left. However, it was too little too late — Butler knocked down crunch time free throws, and the Heat hung on to win.
The Celtics struggled with the Heat’s 2–3 zone defense for much of the night, turning the ball over 19 times and failing to consistently get good looks at the basket. Jayson Tatum, who has been the Celtics best player throughout the playoffs, did not score a single point in the first half. Tatum came out on fire in the second half to keep the Celtics in it, going 10 for 15 from the field and scoring 28 points. Brown and Walker scored 21 and 20 points respectively, while Gordon Hayward, whose wife gave birth earlier in the day, came off the bench to score 14 points.
The game was played Wednesday night after thenews that the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her home last March would not be held criminally accountable for her death. One officer was charged with wanton endangerment for firing into Taylor’s neighbors’ apartment. Players, coaches and broadcasters voiced their displeasure with the grand jury’s decision before, during and after the game. As highlights rolled during halftime,ESPN’s Jalen Rose shouted “It’d also be a great day to arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor,” before the broadcast quickly cut to commercial.
In his postgame press conference, Butler was asked about what it was like playing an NBA game after learning the news.
“There’s always a lot of emotion that goes on. You never actually don’t think about it,” Butler said. “It’s always much bigger than a sport. It’s always much bigger than basketball. Because that could be anybody. That could be me. That could be any African American … it’s always on my heart because I just think it’s some bullcrap and going into the game you have to compete, but at the end of the day, I mean, we’re people first not just athletes.”
Brown, who wore a shirt after the game that said “this is not a black issue this is a human rights issue” on the front and “don’t shoot” on the back, spoke about the verdict in apress conference after the game.
“I wasn’t surprised by the verdict," Brown said. "This society — the way it was built — the intention was never to protect and serve people of color initially. Until we dismantle, recreate or change this system we have, it will continue to have victims like Breonna Taylor and others that fall victim to oppression.”
The Celtics and Heat will play Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at 8:30 p.m. The Heat will try to clinch a spot in the finals for the first time since 2014.
