BBNBA: Despite Herro's 33 points, Heat go down 0-2; Reed Sheppard makes playoff debut

The 1-seed Cleveland Cavaliers are heavy favorites to beat the 8-seed (formerly 10-seed) Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, but don’t tell that to Tyler Herro. The former Kentucky guard did what he could in Game 2 Wednesday night to help his team, but his 33 points, six rebounds, and five assists were not enough to stave off the Cavs, as the Heat fell 121-112.

Herro wasn’t the only former Kentucky player to fill up the stat sheet. Bam Adebayo came up one dime shy of a triple-double, notching 11 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists. It wasn’t his best scoring night, but per usual, Bam was all over the court. That being said, Bam shot more 3-pointers (1-5) than he did 2-pointers (2-4) for the first time in his career, and I can’t imagine that was in Erik Spoelstra’s game plan. However, for what it is worth, Herro and Adebayo were the only two Heat starters with a positive in the plus-minus category, both coming in at plus-1.

The teams will now trek back down to South Beach, where they will play the next two games on the Heat’s home court. Hopefully, Herro and Adebayo can help their team get some wins within their friendly confines, away from the misery up there in Cleveland. In the immortal words of Joakim Noah, “You like Cleveland? You think it’s cool? I’ve never heard of anyone say, ‘I’m going to Cleveland on vacation.'”

He’s not wrong.

Reed Sheppard makes NBA Playoff debut

It wasn’t the most ceremonious NBA playoff debut of all time, but rookie Reed Sheppard played in his first playoff game Wednesday night in the closing minutes of a 109-94 Houston Rockets win over the Golden State Warriors. The game was extremely physical, and multiple technical fouls in the 4th quarter led to coaches clearing their bench for the final few minutes of a game that was out of reach.

Sheppard got one shot up in his two minutes on the court, but it was an off-balance heave with the shot clock expiring, so he remained scoreless. Reed’s fellow former Kentucky lottery pick, Kevin Knox, shared in some garbage time as well. He got one bucket down low, over Sheppard nonetheless, to sneak into the scoring column.

The series is now tied as the teams will venture out west to San Francisco for games 3 and 4.

BBNBA Stats for 4/23/2024

Player	Score	PTS	FG (3PT)	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	P/M	MIN
Tyler Herro (MIA)	112-121 L vs. CLE	33	14-24 (4-11)	6	5	0	0	2	+1	40
Bam Adebayo (MIA)	112-121 L vs. CLE	11	3-9 (1-5)	14	9	1	0	2	+1	42
Kevin Knox II (GSW)	94-109 L vs. HOU	2	1-3 (0-1)	1	1	0	1	0	+2	4
Reed Sheppard (HOU)	109-94 W vs. GSW	0	0-1 (0-1)	0	0	0	0	0	-5	2

Tonight in the NBA Playoffs

Eastern Conference First Round | Game 3 | Series tied 1-1
7:00 (TNT): (3) Knicks (Towns) @ (6) Pistons

Western Conference First Round | Game 3 | DEN leads 1-0
9:30 (TNT): (1) Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander) @ (8) Grizzlies

Western Conference First Round | Game 3 | DEN leads 1-0
10:00 (NBA TV): (4) Nuggets (Murray) @ (5) Clippers