On this week’s Heat Check: With Tyler Herro set to return, can the Miami Heat avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament for the first time in four years? By Pierre Taylor
Pat Riley has now been with the Miami Heat for three decades, but his legacy with the Los Angeles Lakers lives on.
That legacy will be immortalized on Sunday when the Lakers unveil a statue of Riley outside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Riley will be the eighth Lakers legend to be commemorated with a statue outside their home arena, joining Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West.
With the Heat facing the Hawks in Atlanta on Friday night and then set to host the Memphis Grizzlies in Miami on Saturday (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10), Heat coach Erik Spoelstra won’t be able to attend Sunday’s statue unveiling in Los Angeles. But Spoelstra will be watching from afar.
“It is amazing because he is arguably the iconic coaching figure. I grew up watching him and the Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, and he had an aura about him on that sideline,” Spoelstra said Friday before the Heat’s matchup against the Hawks at State Farm Arena. “That all started with the Lakers. That was an iconic run they had. He really would just kind of personify leadership at another level for coaching. We’re really excited about it. “
Riley’s moment will come on the same day that the Lakers host the Boston Celtics, the same team that became the Lakers’ bitter rival when Riley was their head coach.
“We wish we could be there,” Spoelstra continued. “Initially, when we found out about it, I was like, why wasn’t that scheduled while we were in town? But man, it is so much more fitting that the Celtics are in town. I don’t root for other franchises, but I inherited my feeling about the Celtics from coach Riley. So I hope it ends on a good note for that franchise because it’s going to be a special, special ceremony.”
Riley, 80, won six NBA championships with the Lakers — four as the head coach (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988), one as an assistant coach (1980) and one as a player (1972).
Riley, who is currently the Heat’s president, is in his 31st season with the Heat after joining the organization in 1995. During that time, the Heat has made 24 postseason appearances and captured 16 division titles while making seven trips to the NBA Finals and winning its first three NBA championships (2006, 2012 and 2013).
Riley was the head coach and team president for the Heat’s first NBA championship in 2006 before relinquishing those duties to Spoelstra in 2008. Riley was solely the team president for the Heat’s last two titles in 2012 and 2013.
When including Riley’s time with the Lakers and New York Knicks, Riley ranks fifth on the NBA’s all-time wins list for head coaches. He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a head coach in 2008 and was recognized as one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history in 2022.
The Heat already dedicated its home court to Riley last season, naming it “Pat Riley Court at Kaseya Center.” Like the Lakers, the Heat could also honor Riley with a statue outside its home arena one day.
“It just shows you how much of a force of nature Pat has been and continues to be,” Spoelstra said of Riley earning that type of recognition with two NBA franchises. “It really is remarkable. The consistency and the success and the imprint he put on organizations, and left a major imprint on the Lakers even after he left.”
FINALLY HEALTHY
It appears that Heat guard Tyler Herro will play in his 12th game of the season on Friday after missing the last 15 games with a painful rib injury.
Herro is listed as probable to play on Friday against the Hawks in Atlanta. And after Herro took part in shootaround on Friday morning, Spoelstra said “he’s trending to be available tonight.”
“I feel good,” Herro said Friday morning. “Just happy to be playing basketball again. It’s been a rough couple months, going through different knick-knack injuries. Nothing really super big of an injury that’s going to affect my whole body or career in the long term, which is the hard part about it because it’s just small little injuries that I have to get over. So I’m happy to be back.”
Herro, who turned 26 on Jan. 20, has missed 45 of the Heat’s first 56 games this season. He missed the first 17 games of the season due to offseason ankle surgery, 13 games because of a toe contusion and now 15 consecutive games because of this rib injury.
“Tyler’s a competitor,” Spoelstra emphasized on Friday. “These injuries have been unfortunate, but they’ve been real. He had three broken ribs. He was trying to play through it and just wasn’t able to sustain that by doing shots and everything. So It was needed to get this rest and recovery and rehab. But he’s available, which is exciting. We’re bringing back a major talent.”
To protect his ribs, Herro will wear a flak jacket when he returns.
“They had a sewing person come in and sew a whole new pad in for me,” Herro said. “So I got quite the flak jacket. I look like a football player almost out there. I’m going to see how it goes, try to feel it out a little bit. Ultimately, I just want to feel safe.”
While there won’t be a strict minutes restriction for Herro in his return, Spoelstra made clear he’ll be “mindful” of how much he plays him in his first game in over a month.
“I’m not going to play him 38 minutes tonight,” Spoelstra said. “He hasn’t played a game in a while. He doesn’t have the build-up of a lot of games, but he always keeps himself in great condition. He’ll be fine. He’ll get back into rhythm probably quicker than most.”
The Heat could have its full rotation available against the Hawks, as the only player definitively ruled out for Friday’s contest is Terry Rozier.
Norman Powell (low back tightness) and Keshad Johnson (left calf soreness) are listed as questionable for the Heat, but they both went through shootaround in Atlanta on Friday morning. Powell said after shootaround that he’ll be available to play against the Hawks.