The Miami Heat were eliminated from the postseason in unceremonious fashion as they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. They suffered a 55-point blowout loss in Game 4, while losing the games by a combined 122 points - setting an NBA record for the most lopsided series in postseason history.
Tyler Herro made headlines earlier in the week as Jared Weiss of The Athletic reported that he claimed:
"Obviously, I know I need Jimmy to win. If we had Jimmy right now, I feel like it’d be a completely different situation," Herro stated. "We probably wouldn’t even be the eighth seed. So finding that middle balance of like, damn, we need him, but also understanding, s**t, that’s his career and what he wants is ultimately his right to want what he wants. It was just tough to be in the middle of both sides."
Herro took to his backup Instagram account on Wednesday to clear the air on the report. The Dunk Central shared a screenshot of his story, which read:
"dude asked me a question in the timeframe of jan-feb, when the "jimmy saga" was happening, i said i had came into the season thinking i was playing off of jimmy, to him getting [traded] and i had to switch my mindset from needing jimmy to me being the lead guy, and i spoke about the things i learned from (Butler)," Herro wrote. "never said i need anyone to win games. yall trippin n buddy from the athletic who wrote the article is a goofy"
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Herro added a follow up story noting that he doesn't usually clear the air on such manners, but he doesn't like Weiss. The Heat guard had a strong showing during the regular season, averaging 24.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field, 37.5% from three-point range and 87.8% from the free-throw line.
He earned the first All-Star nod of his six-year career. His production dipped in the postseason, however, as he averaged just 17.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.8 apg and 0.5 spg on 41.5/31.0/80.0 shooting splits. Herro was particularly bad in the Game 4 blowout as he finished with a season-low four points while shooting 1-10 from the field.
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