With Kyle Lowry Struggling, Tyler Herro Aims To Play For Heat In Game 6

It’s desperation time for the Heat. They cannot lose again if they are to play for a championship — as they trail the Celtics by a 3-2 series count in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Game 6 is Friday at Boston, and again, it’s win-or-go-home for the Heat.

Unfortunately, they are a bit banged up. Kyle Lowry is clearly not himself after coming back from a hamstring injury, and Tyler Herro has missed the previous two games with a groin issue.

How bad has Lowry been? Try three points on 1-of-12 shooting combined over the past two games. Overall in the series, he is a miserable 5-of-23 from the field.

So with the season on the line, Herro intends to do all he can to play in Game 6, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Lowry, of course, isn’t alone. When you only score 80 points in an ultra-meaningful game … well, it takes a team-wide effort.

“Lowry isn’t the only one struggling,” Haynes noted. “Of the last two games, the trio of Lowry, Jimmy Butler and Max Strus is a combined 8-of-60 shooting. Strus is 0-for-16 from the field and 0-for-11 from three in that span.

“Butler is clearly dealing with continual knee pain as he’s not the dominant player he’s been most of these playoffs.”

So the Heat will have to turn to what earned them the No. 1 seed in the East entering the playoffs. It will come down to grit and defense, and whether they can display enough of those things to rattle the Celtics.

The time for rationalizations has come to an end.

“We’re not going to make any kind of deflection or excuse,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the loss, via Haynes. “Boston beat us tonight. Let’s be clear about that. There are guys that are far from 100 percent on both sides.”