BBNBA: Herro leads Heat again in win over Dallas

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bbnba-herro-leads-heat-win-over-dallas — Photo: Miami Heat/NBAE

Good afternoon, BBN. How we feeling? Anyone else hungover on a Wednesday, or is that just me? Heckuva baseball game last night. In more relevant news, the conclusion of the World Series means that from here on out, mid-week NBA action has little in the way of prime-time competition. And I, for one, am looking forward to that. Let’s talk about last night’s slate.

The Herro Bucket hits his stride

Watch out world, because Tyler Herro is heating up. Tuesday’s road win over the Mavericks was the 21-year-old slasher’s fourth 25+ point outing this year, and third consecutive time surpassing the 20-point mark. He did a bit of everything in this one, including some slick assists in the lane:

Dallas got a taste of what #TylerTuesday looks like pic.twitter.com/yhvoyB2Zgq
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 3, 2021

Herro would finish the game with 25 points on 11-20 shooting (3-6 from downtown) along with three rebounds and four assists, leading the Heat to a 125-110 route. It was Miami’s fifth consecutive victory, and their 6-1 record is tied with Utah and Chicago for tops in the NBA. Herro is averaging a cool 22.4 PPG on the season, second on the team behind Jimmy Butler.

What makes this even more impressive is the fact that he’s done it all off the bench:

Tyler Herro leads the league with 157 points off the bench.

The points gap between him and the 2nd best player (40) is bigger than the 2nd and 10th player. pic.twitter.com/jk05R6tG0F
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 3, 2021

Herro’s 157 points off the bench through seven games are the most by any player in 50 years. But of course, he isn’t the only ‘Cat making things happen for the Heat. After sitting out one game with a bruised knee, Bam Adebayo returned in style on Tuesday with a 22-point, 13-rebound double-double. Check out his highlights, which included a couple of cat-on-cat assaults on Willie Cauley-Stein:

Bam was back and in charge tonight

22pts & 13rebs pic.twitter.com/cWg4cxswrG
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 3, 2021

Tough look, Willie. But then again, this Heat team is looking like a buzzsaw; their loss was an overtime contest with the Pacers, and their average margin of victory in the six wins has been 21 points. It’s also worth noting that the Heat — for all their recent success — haven’t had multiple 20-point scorers in a season since Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in 2015. With Butler, Herro and Adebayo this year, they currently have three.

Sure, it’s early. But for the time being, I wouldn’t advise betting against this group.

AD, Lakers hang on vs. Rockets

After an 0-2 start, things have been looking up for the Lakers. They collected a third consecutive W yesterday, riding a fourth-quarter rally to defeat the Rockets at Staples Center. More importantly, they got LeBron James and Anthony Davis back in the saddle together. Ain’t that a beautiful sight?

ANTHONY DAVIS LOB TO LEBRON JAMES 🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/07TfehjtdS
— The Laker Files (@LakerFiles) November 3, 2021

James led the team with 30 points in the win, while Davis chipped in 27 to go with nine rebounds, two steals and three blocks. If you add in Russell Westbrook’s 27, the Lake Show got a combined 84 points from its big three — and they needed every last bucket.

After trailing for much of the game (and by as much as 11 in the third quarter), L.A. stormed back to tie it at the beginning of the fourth. With nine minutes left, they trailed 97-94. Then James went on a personal 10-3 run, scoring on five straight possessions to put his team on top by four; they would hold that lead until the final moments, when Rockets rookie Jalen Green hit this crazy shot to pull within one:

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Jalen Green is absolutely nuts pic.twitter.com/Vbme93kAnx
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) November 3, 2021

Fortunately, Malik Monk made one of two free throws on the other end — his only point of the evening — and the Lakers were able to hold on for a 119-117 win.

For Davis, the 27-point outing was his sixth 20-pointer in eight games this season. He’s currently averaging 25 PPG, 11.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, which makes him the only player in the top 10 off all three categories in the league. Highlights below.

Booker, Suns rally past Pels

Our third marquee game started very poorly for Devin Booker and the Suns. Facing the Zion-less Pelicans at home, the star duo of Booker and Chris Paul looked all kinds of out-of-sorts early, combining for eight first-half turnovers while the Pels jumped out ahead. But they were able to recover late, dominating the fourth quarter to win 112-100.

The comeback was sparked by Booker, who scored half his points in the final quarter, and they all happened to be in a row:

Devin Booker scores 9 straight @Suns points down the stretch, completing the 20-point comeback win! pic.twitter.com/RtQiewo6r8
— NBA (@NBA) November 3, 2021

DBook would finish the contest with 18 points and eight assists on 7-20 shooting, while Paul ended with a vintage 14-point, 18-assist performance. The win got the Suns back to .500 on the year at 3-3.