Was Jayson Tatum right in implying that Tyler Herro only played well because of the ‘Bubble’ atmosphere as the Heat lose in 4?
In a series that was deemed to be one that would go down to the wire, the Miami Heat stank up both arenas as they could not snag a single victory in the best-of-7. The Milwaukee Bucks effectively used the Heat’s strategy on defense in terms of walling off Jimmy Butler from attacking the paint and drawing an excessive amount of fouls.
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However, with Butler being a well above average distributor in the half-court, he was able to dish out to open shooters on the perimeter. The inability of guys like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro to knock down a shot from beyond the arc with any sort of consistency is what led to the Heat’s downfall.
Tyler Herro, who has had a bevy of skeptics ever since his rookie season, was unfortunately unable to prove these doubters wrong in the 2021 NBA postseason. After having a disappointing 2020-21 regular season with no considerable improvement from what he was as a rookie, fans are beginning to wonder: Was Jayson Tatum right?
Tyler Herro had a horrendous first round series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In an interview with AhnFireDigital, Jayson Tatum seemingly took shots at players who amped up their game when in the Bubble, when compared to how they played prior. Funnily enough, the Celtics star said this to Tyler Herro’s face, a young star who’s become the poster child for the ‘Bubble frauds’.
In all fairness, the entirety of the Miami Heat squad saw a massive dip in numbers and efficiency across the board in these 2021 Playoffs but it is Tyler Herro who is on the receiving end of the slander for the most part. Rounding up the numbers, Herro averaged 20 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds against the Boston Celtics in the 2020 ECF.
In this year’s 4-game wipeout against the Bucks, Herro averaged 9.6 points on 31% shooting from the field while showing no aggression in trying to attack the paint. Then again, it’s tough to ask anybody to drive into a lane clogged by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.
The 21-year-old still has a great deal of time to grow into the player he showed flashes of being back in the 2020 Bubble. Fans claiming that the Miami Heat should’ve given up Tyler Herro in a package for James Harden clearly do not understand how much the Rockets were asking for their 2018 MVP.
Ironically, Jayson Tatum went through a similar dip in numbers and efficiency in his sophomore season as he averaged merely 16 points after going toe-to-toe with LeBron James in the ECF a season prior. Fast-forward to today and he’s dropped four 50 point games in these last 2 months.
