Miami Heat

It's safe to say that Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra wasn't happy with his team's effort on Saturday afternoon.

Following the Heat's 124-87 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Spoelstra acknowledged that it was a "very disappointing day" and said that the team "laid an egg" with its effort.

Spoelstra: "We laid an egg today." https://t.co/7s3qiXDb6v

— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) April 26, 2025

The Heat trailed 62-42 at the half and the game featured only a single lead change. Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers with 22 points, De'Andre Hunter added 21, Evan Mobley had 19, Max Strus had 18 and Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome each contributed 13 in the rout.

Miami now trails the series 3-0 and would need to pull off an unprecedented comeback to emerge victorious. While it's technically possible, all evidence to this point suggests the Heat are headed for a second straight first-round exit.

Game 4 is set for Monday in South Florida.

Tyler Herro scored 16 of his 38 points in the first quarter to lead the Miami Heat to a 109-90 wire-to-wire win over the host Chicago Bulls in an Eastern Conference play-in tournament elimination game on Wednesday evening.

Tyler Herro TORCHES the Bulls to advance to the 8th place game vs. Hawks 🔥

38 PTS
13-19 FG
5 REB
4 AST pic.twitter.com/dJzMDnaZfr

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 17, 2025

Herro finished with 23 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shots in the first half, which featured the Heat outscoring the Bulls 71-47.

TYLER HERRO GOING OFF IN THE PLAY-IN 🔥🔥🔥

23 PTS
8-8 FG
3-3 3PM
4-4 FT

Heat up BIG at the half ‼️ pic.twitter.com/OYCQxhzhxe

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 17, 2025

Chicago stopped the bleeding in the second half and cut the lead to 13 points on a few occasions in the fourth quarter, but the first half hole was too deep to climb out before time expired.

Miami also received 20 points from Andrew Wiggins, 15 points and nine assists from Davion Mitchell off the bench and a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double from Bam Adebayo.

Miami's suffocating defense stymied the Bulls, who shot just 27.0 percent from three-point range. That defense gave the Heat a ton of wiggle room in the second half, so much so that Miami scored just 38 points in the final 24 minutes and still won by 19.

Ultimately, this was an impressive performance for the Heat, but Herro truly delivered a first-round knockout punch that the Bulls couldn't recover from. He had been on a torrid pace before then as well.

Tyler Herro in his last 11 games:

38 PTS
22 PTS
30 PTS
20 PTS
35 PTS
25 PTS
27 PTS
30 PTS
36 PTS
20 PTS
29 PTS

THE BEST STRETCH OF HIS CAREER pic.twitter.com/WaQxCrY2yH

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) April 17, 2025

And that continued with ease Wednesday. Fans were impressed with the results.

Tyler Herro: pic.twitter.com/jFIGsHm5Qi

— HeatForum (@HeatForum) April 16, 2025

tyler herro against the bulls pic.twitter.com/Y1UGWio4yh

— michael (@3MWD__) April 17, 2025

TYLER HERRO IS UNSTOPPABLE

BEST SHOOTER IN THE WORLD pic.twitter.com/A03WlB1hSU

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) April 17, 2025

Tyler Herro really has reached that next level

— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) April 17, 2025

tyler herro deciding to shoot 100% from the field goal was a really good idea

shoutout whoever thought of that strategy

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) April 17, 2025

Playoff Tyler Herro has arrived.

Beware. pic.twitter.com/w5UsFehZci

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 17, 2025

Tyler Herro really saw Jimmy Butler drop 38 last night and went out and did it himself

— jeremy taché (@jeremytache) April 17, 2025

Tyler Herro rn pic.twitter.com/a1KiBnieyj

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) April 16, 2025

Tyler Herro has always been able to flat-out shoot the ball but now has his defender even more at his mercy by getting to the rim more which also results in getting to the line more,his understanding of how to move off ball all while creating for others and playing at his pace

— Ross Kreines (@rosskre) April 17, 2025

https://twitter.com/balldontstop/status/1912683140348539135

TYLER HERRO LEGACY GAME pic.twitter.com/7M0LPTNcev

— Wesley Goon (@wesleygoon2447) April 17, 2025

Miami will now visit the Atlanta Hawks on Friday at 7 p.m. ET. The winner will earn the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed and play the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

Pelle Larsson went down before the game even started on Wednesday.

The Miami Heat rookie suffered a sprained right ankle during pregame lifting ahead of Wednesday's contest against the Chicago Bulls. Miami announced that he will not be available for the matchup, but his timeline for recovery is still unknown.

#MIAvsCHI INJURY UPDATE: Pelle Larsson sprained his right ankle during pregame lifting. He has been ruled out of tonight’s game vs the Bulls.

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 10, 2025

Larsson got his start playing professionally in Sweden before joining the college basketball ranks in 2020. After a year with Utah and three solid seasons with Arizona, the Houston Rockets drafted Larsson in the second round and traded him to Miami on draft night.

Larsson has put together a decent rookie year so far, averaging 4.6 points, 1.7 assists and 1.2 rebounds per game while playing just 14.2 minutes per contest. His numbers are far from the best among other rookies, but he's been a valuable contributor, especially considering he was a late draft pick.

Unfortunately for Larsson, he may not have time to recover from the injury before the end of the season. Miami has just three games left this year and will close out the season on Sunday.

The Heat will have the chance to reach the postseason through the play-in tournament, which could give Larsson the chance to get back on the floor this year. Miami is currently in 10th place in the East but could potentially climb a few spots up the standings to give them a better chance of getting into the playoffs via the play-in tournament.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo told reporters that he wasn't "shocked" Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler didn't acknowledge his ex-teammates upon his return to Miami last Tuesday.

“I’m not shocked. It is what it is,” Adebayo said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.

“It’s a business at the end of the day. And he has a Golden State Warriors jersey on. We have a Heat jersey on. I don’t take it personal. We’re out there to do our job anyways. So if you don’t want to speak, we don’t speak and that’s fine. We’re going to get out here, we’re going to compete, win or lose the game and we move on.”

The Heat beat the Warriors 111-86 last Tuesday. Butler had a relatively quiet night with just 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

Adebayo's remarks align with those by Heat guard Tyler Herro, who repeated, "no," five times when asked if he and Butler had a conversation before or after the game reflecting on their time in Miami.

Tyler Herro postgame pic.twitter.com/krsQd9LWxk

— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) March 26, 2025

Butler also clearly wanted nothing to do with Heat president Pat Riley during his return to town.

"I have nothing to say to Pat, and Pat better have nothing to say to me"

Jimmy Butler had this to say to @TaylorRooks ahead of his return to Miami 🫣 pic.twitter.com/RSdPUeBamA

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 25, 2025

Butler played in Miami for five-plus seasons, beginning in 2019. He led the Heat to two NBA Finals appearances and three Eastern Conference Finals berths. Overall, his time in town was a great success.

However, it ended just about as poorly as possible.

The Heat suspended him on three separate occasions this year: once for seven games (conduct detrimental to the team), once for two games (missing a team flight to Milwaukee) and once indefinitely ("a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services," per the team).

Butler was eligible for a two-year, $112 million max contract extension last summer, but Miami notably decided against giving it to him. The Warriors gave him that deal after adding to him via trade last February.

It appears both sides have moved on after a frosty relationship developed this year. Now the Warriors are trying to clinch a top-six seed, while Miami looks destined for the play-in.

If only Pat Riley had left the cookies alone, LeBron James might not have left the Miami Heat.

Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, James confirmed that Riley would remove cookies from team flights during his tenure with the Heat.

“That cookies story is true..

Everybody knows I love chocolate chip cookies..

One flight I got on and there was no more cookies and we all know where it came from” 😂😂 @KingJames #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/SO3qh9yV8B

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 26, 2025

James went on to say that Riley has a singular focus on all things about the "Heat shield" and he "don't give a f--k" about anything else.

LeBron speaks on Jimmy, D-Wade, and his departure from Miami

"One thing about Riles, he don't give a f*ck about nothing. If it ain't about that Heat shield and covering that Heat culture, I mean we see with what's going on now."

(h/t @ClutchPoints )

pic.twitter.com/xoo8I5hgkt

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2025

Heat legend Dwyane Wade first told the story about Riley and the chocolate chip cookies in February during an appearance on The Underground Lounge.

Wade's recollection of the event was that Riley had a package of cookies that James brought on the team plane removed, causing a card game that was happening to stop in its tracks (starts at 29:21 mark).

Wade joked that was the first "inkling" he had that James might not return to the Heat when he became a free agent.

That turned out to be a prescient moment for Wade because James opted out of his deal with Miami in the summer of 2014 and went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers four years after The Decision.

There were other issues with the Heat that may have contributed to James' decision to leave. Riley reportedly wanted him to sign for less than the max to give the front office more roster flexibility.

To his credit, Riley did admit several years after James left the Heat that it was the "right thing" for the four-time MVP to do. He didn't mention anything about the cookies in his reasoning.

Even though James' tenure in Miami only lasted four seasons, it was an incredibly successful time for the franchise. The Heat made the NBA Finals every year during that span, winning back-to-back titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Of course, James went on to play in four straight Finals with the Cavs after leaving Miami. If Riley hadn't taken away his cookies, maybe the Heat would have made it to the Finals in eight consecutive years.

That would have been the second-longest streak of Finals appearances in NBA history, trailing only the Boston Celtics' run of 10 straight from 1957 to '66.

Even though the end of Jimmy Butler's tenure with the Miami Heat seemed quite acrimonious, the franchise intends to honor him when he returns to Kaseya Center as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, the Heat have had a tribute video for Butler "in the works for a while" that will be played before tipoff of Tuesday's game against the Warriors.

Butler and the Heat reached a point where a divorce was in the best interest of both sides. He was attempting weird one-legged threes during games after indicating to the team he wanted to be traded.

The Heat announced on Jan. 3 that Butler was suspended seven games for "multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team." Their statement also said they would listen to trade offers for the six-time All-Star.

Butler was suspended two more times by the Heat. He received a two-game ban on Jan. 22 for missing a team flight, followed by an indefinite suspension of at least five games after walking out of a practice on Jan. 27.

A trade finally materialized on Feb. 6 when Butler was moved to the Warriors as part of a five-team deal. He also received a two-year, $111 million extension from Golden State.

Even though things didn't end well between the two sides, Butler's first five seasons in Miami went extremely well. The Heat were in the Eastern Conference Finals three times from 2019-20 to 2023-24, advancing to the NBA Finals twice during that span.

The only thing missing from that run was a championship, but it's hard to complain about the overall results for the Heat. Butler averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in 316 starts with Miami.

Golden State has taken off since adding Butler. The Warriors are 16-3 with him in the lineup and have climbed up to sixth in the Western Conference standings. They are only two games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 5 seed.

It's a new era in Miami and the Heat are experiencing some of the tribulations of that task.

The Heat dealt star guard Jimmy Butler ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline, ending his six-year tenure with the franchise. Butler has thrived with his new team, the Golden State Warriors, and the Heat have gone 4-12 since the move.

While it hasn't been ideal, Heat star Bam Adebayo described it as "growing pains" and that he and guard Tyler Herro are growing into leadership roles.

“It’s growing pains for us,” Adebayo said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “This is the first situation that’s it has really been just me and Tyler. I mean, obviously, the addition of [Andrew Wiggins], but we’re still trying to get Wiggs comfortable to where he can be fully himself. Right now, we’re keeping it simple for him and just kind of getting out of his way. But for me and Tyler, it’s more so understanding that we know how hard it is to win in this league. You can never take that for granted.”

Adebayo has averaged 17.5 points and 10 rebounds in 64 games for the Heat in 2023-24. Herro is averaging 23.8 points, 5.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 63 games while new acquisition Andrew Wiggins has averaged 19.3 games in his 10 games since the Butler trade.

It's a franchise without their former clear leader but the talent on the roster could get it together before the postseason. The Heat are currently 29-37 and sit in ninth in the Eastern Conference.

Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade didn't have a problem with Jimmy Butler wanting to leave the organization prior to his trade to the Golden State Warriors, but he would have liked to see the whole situation handled in a different way.

Appearing on the 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony podcast (starts at 51:02 mark), Wade said "I hate the PR game that's been played" when discussing the Butler-Heat dynamic that led to the trade.

Butler was not shy in publicly expressing his desire to get traded for weeks before a deal came together. He told reporters after the Heat's loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2 he wanted "to get my joy back from playing basketball" and it "probably" wouldn't happen in Miami.

Jimmy Butler: I'm happy here, off the court, but I want to be back to somewhat dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. right now I'm not doing that.

Question: Can you get your joy back here on the court?

Jimmy Butler: probably not pic.twitter.com/KfYGR4YFOP

— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) January 3, 2025

Butler was also suspended on two separate occasions by the Heat in January for conduct detrimental to the team. His second suspension came after he walked out of practice on Jan. 27 upon being informed Haywood Highsmith was going to replace him in the starting lineup.

It wasn't just Butler using the media to get his message out. After the six-time All-Star said in May the Heat would have defeated the Boston Celtics in the playoffs if he had been able to play, team president Pat Riley told reporters a player who didn't participate in the games "should keep your mouth shut."

The situation between Butler and the Heat seemed headed for a divorce long before the split actually happened. They finally resolved the situation on Feb. 6 when he was traded to the Warriors as part of a five-team deal.

Butler also got a two-year, $121 million extension from the Warriors. He's thriving in his new home, averaging 16.8 points, 5.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game in 14 starts.

Golden State is 13-1 with Butler in the lineup and has climbed up to sixth in the West standings.

The Heat are struggling without him, having lost five straight and 12 of 16 games since Feb. 7. They are currently ninth in the Eastern Conference standings with a 29-36 overall record.