Heat’s Tyler Herro on West Coast as he awaits birth of second child: ‘Hopefully I’ll be home’

Tyler Herro is playing with an edge during the Miami Heat’s five-game West Coast trip because he is on edge.

Herro is awaiting the birth of his second child, which is expected to happen in the coming days with the due date set for Jan. 17. The issue is Herro is nearly 3,000 miles away on the other side of the country as the Heat prepares to play the fourth game of its five-game trip Wednesday night against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

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“Really just ready at any moment,” Herro said. “Hopefully I can get through this road trip and we can get home. Then hopefully we’ll either be at home when she delivers the baby or closer on the East Coast or something like that. But it would be tough. Obviously, I’ll get there. But it would be tough to fly from here all the way back home in time.”

If the baby is born while Herro is with the Heat on a trip, he plans to immediately catch a flight back to Miami in hopes of being with his girlfriend, Katya Elise Henry, as she gives birth.

“I’m going to leave right away,” Herro said. “If she tells me it’s time, I’m leaving.”

Herro and Henry became parents when their daughter, Zya Elise Herro, was born in September 2021. They are expecting their first son this time around.

While Herro is hoping the birth will wait until he returns home on Saturday morning following Friday night’s matchup against the Suns in Phoenix to close the trip, he didn’t speak that wish into existence before he left Miami last week.

“My girl doesn’t want me to do that because she’s ready for the baby to come now,” Herro said with a laugh. “She’s ready, so she’s saying in the next couple days, she’s feeling it.”

Herro, who turns 23 on Jan. 20, plans to start giving his phone to a Heat staff member during games to make sure he doesn’t miss a text or call that Henry is going into labor.

“Like any day, literally, it can happen. So I’m kind of just waiting on that text,” Herro said. “I feel like it’s going to happen on this trip, but I don’t know.”

Despite all that’s on his mind, Herro has continued his excellent play. Including Saturday’s game-winning three-pointer at the final buzzer in Salt Lake City, he has averaged 26 points while shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 12 of of 29 (41.4 percent) from three-point range, 8.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game during the Heat’s 2-1 start to the trip.

“It’s been different,” Herro said. “But just hoping we can get through this trip and hopefully I’ll be home.”

STILL IN THE ZONE

While the Heat has been able to rely on its man-to-man defense more often recently, the zone is still an important part of its defensive package.

The Heat implemented the 2-3 zone during an important late-game stretch against the Clippers and it worked.

Miami limited Los Angeles to just 0.86 points per possession on 22 half-court zone possessions in Monday’s win. For perspective on how elite that number is, the Memphis Grizzlies entered Tuesday with the NBA’s best overall half-court defense this season at 0.97 points allowed per possession based on Synergy Sports tracking data.

A chunk of those zone possessions came in the fourth quarter, when the Heat held the Clippers to just 17 points on 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting (14.3 percent) shooting from three-point range to run away with the victory. Heat guard Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo excelled at the top of the zone, helping to pressure the Clippers into five turnovers in the period.

“They were really good in our zone and we were able to stabilize our defense at the beginning of the fourth,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Vincent and Oladipo. “Then Vic gave us just some really impactful plays on both sides of the floor. Defensively, he was sensational. He just has electrifying quickness laterally and you can see he’s starting to get his confidence and his health and his movement.”