The Miami Heat suffered a disappointing 119-111 road loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night to bring their record to 36-44 on the season. With that head-to-head defeat, the Heat remained the tenth-seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race, falling one game behind the ninth-seeded Bulls.
Arguably, the biggest moment of the game came while the Bulls were leading by five points with less than 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter when sixth-year Miami guard Tyler Herro stole the ball away from Chicago’s Coby White. However, instead of going for an easy layup while faced with a wide-open lane to the basket that would’ve cut the Bulls’ lead to three, Herro attempted and missed a three-pointer that would’ve made it a one-score game. On the ensuing possession, the Bulls hit a shot from beyond the arc to extend their lead to eight points, which ended up being the final margin of victory.
Tyler Herro with the lowest IQ shot you’ll ever see 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Z2VU6ApktL
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) April 10, 2025
Despite the miss, Herro didn’t appear to have any regrets regarding the decision he made.
“I was feeling that shot. Simple as that. That’s the shot I was feeling,” Herro told reporters after the game. “Looking back at it now, obviously missing the shot, I should’ve laid the ball up. But at the end of the day, I believe I can make that shot. I believe in myself. Imma live and die by that.”
Herro’s teammates went to bat for him and defended his choice.
“That kid has made a lot of tough buckets in his career,” said Heat center and three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo when talking about Herro after the loss. “You tip your hat off when he shoots stuff like that. That’s a killer mentality for him. To me, that’s one of the best looks he’s got all night, so you live with that. A hundred percent y’all wouldn’t be talking about it if he made it.”
Miami’s coach, two-time NBA Champion Erik Spoelstra, also threw his support behind Herro.
“Everything was happening so fast,” Spoelstra said. “Tyler has a fearlessness that you can’t take for granted. He hits so many big shots. He wants to take on anything to help you win. He’s had a lot of big plays offensively, especially in fourth quarters in his time with us.”
Spoelstra did take some of the blame for the perplexing shot choice made by the 25-year-old.
“It’s my job now to also coach him in situational basketball,” he added. “It was still a two-possession game. Regardless, we were going to have to get a stop. It was set up to be probably a decent two-for-one opportunity. He’s got a kill mentality. That wasn’t a kill opportunity at that point… It’s my responsibility as a head coach to coach him through situations like this.”
“This is the Tyler Herro experience.” 😂 @DavidDTSS and @WindhorstESPN react to Tyler Herro passing up an open layup to shoot a three in the final minute of Heat-Bulls. pic.twitter.com/SIoa0JauJ5
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 10, 2025
As things currently stand, the Bulls and Heat will face off in the NBA Play-In tournament as the ninth and tenth seeds, but the seeding of Eastern Conference teams could change with four days left in the regular season.
The winner of the nine vs. ten matchup will face the loser of the Eastern Conference game between the seventh and eighth seeds in a win-and-in scenario. Whoever wins that contest will be the eighth seed in the East and will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs.
