Is Heat better when Tyler Herro scores less? Also, Butler, Lowry and Martin out vs. Bulls

Tyler Herro saw the stat floating around Twitter.

Entering its recently completed four-game trip, the Miami Heat was actually winning more when Herro was scoring less. The Heat guard averaged 15.6 points per game in the nine wins he played in and 24.2 points per game in the 10 losses he played in prior to that trip.

“I saw that, for sure,” Herro said ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night to open a four-game homestand. “I think it’s a pointless stat. Because the games we’ve won, I’ve shot the same amount of shots and I just ended up missing them. So when shots go in, I’ll have above 20. If I miss, I have below 20. It’s make or miss at the end of the day and I don’t think that stat is credible.”

Herro averaged a team-high 26.3 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from three-point range during the Heat’s 4-0 trip to end that trend, at least for now.

To Herro’s point, he didn’t take many more shots in the Heat’s losses before the trip. He attempted 17.8 shot attempts per game in the 10 losses he played in and 14.2 shot attempts per game in the nine wins he played in prior to the 4-0 stretch away from home.

It’s just that he shot 48.9 percent in those losses and just 39.8 percent in those wins to score more points in the defeats.

“I don’t really listen to anybody,” Herro, 22, said when asked how he approaches outside criticism in his fourth NBA season. “I got two kids, I don’t listen to nobody. I got two kids. I just worry about the work I got to do — I know what I’m capable of — and what I need to do for this team.”

Lately, the Heat has needed high-scoring games from Herro and it has resulted in wins. As the roster gets healthier, the Heat may need more play-making from Herro.

Herro is doing both at the highest level of his NBA career, as he entered Tuesday averaging career-highs in points (21.2) and assists (4.2) this season.

“It’s really just a matter of him continuing to grow and evolve as a really young talented player,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Herro. “He continues to add to his skill set and right now it’s been about efficiency. Being efficient as he possibly can offensively. Sometimes that’s a bunch of shot-making like he’s been able to do the last couple of games. Sometimes it’s play-making. It just depends on what’s called for, what the scheme is, how teams are approaching him.”

THREE HEAT STARTERS OUT

The Heat ruled out three starters in Jimmy Butler (stomach illness), Kyle Lowry (left knee soreness) and Caleb Martin (left ankle sprain) for Tuesday’s game against the Bulls. Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) also remain out.

Butler woke up Tuesday with a stomach issue after initially being listed as probable for the game.

Meanwhile, it marks the third straight game that Lowry has missed and the second straight game Martin has missed.

Two-way contract forward Jamal Cain rejoined the Heat in Miami and will be available for Tuesday’s game to provide depth to a short-handed roster.

BENCH TALK

The Heat’s bench entered Tuesday averaging the second-fewest points in the NBA at 26.2 points per game after averaging an NBA-high 40.5 bench points per game last season. More importantly, the Heat’s reserves have combined to post a bad plus/minus of minus-48 this season.

But during the Heat’s 4-0 trip, the bench contributed positive minutes to combine for a plus/minus of plus-14 with the help of guard Victor Oladipo’s emergence in a reserve role.

“I never doubted our second unit,” Heat starting center Bam Adebayo said. “We got a lot of moving parts, guys being out and injuries. So it’s hard to really get in a groove in the second unit when you snatch somebody into the first unit and they’re going back and forth. But I feel like we’ve always had confidence in our second unit and these past couple of games they’ve been holding it down.”

PUSHUPS FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Heat forward and captain Udonis Haslem raised more than $100,000 for the Udonis Haslem Foundation and Make-A-Wish Southern Florida through his sixth annual Push Up Challenge on Sunday morning.

Among those who participated in the event were Spoelstra, Heat assistant coach Octavio De La Grana, Heat strength and assistant coaches Eric Foran and Hunter Glascock and Heat director of basketball administration Scott Gurka. Labeled as Team UD, this group entered with an initial goal of of combining for 2,000 pushups in an hour but exceeded that goal to complete 4,500 pushups.

To date, the annual event has raised more than $568,000 and granted over 110 wishes for kids.