Heat guard Tyler Herro was able to push past the eye injury sustained Tuesday night against the Warriors. (Michael Dwyer, AP)
Tyler Herro can see the light. So no need for a missed game for the Miami Heat guard.
After leaving Tuesday night’s victory over the Golden State Warriors at FTX Arena in the second quarter due to left-eye contusion, Herro was not on the team’s injury report for Wednesday’s game against the visiting Sacramento Kings.
Herro said after Tuesday’s game he was confident he would return.
“I’m good,” he said.
He said it was a simple return-to-action process.
“As long as I can wake up and see, I’m playing,” he said
As for the incidental contact with the Warriors’ Moses Moody, Herro said, “I was going for a rebound and I got poked in the eye.”
While it wasn’t quite a black eye, Herro said the incident initially left him with a black stare.
“My eye was like black,” he said. “When I was looking out, I couldn’t see anything. Like I couldn’t see.”
Herro said the eye eventually regained focus.
“It just took some time,” he said. “Honestly, I probably could have got in. I was sitting here at my locker watching the game. In the fourth quarter, I probably could have played. I just needed a little more time for the blurriness and vision to get back.”
Herro conducted his postgame interview Tuesday while wearing sunglasses, as he also does even when they are conducted after not getting poked in the eye.
The preference, he joked, if protection was needed, was sunglasses instead of goggles.
“You know I got a lot of sunglasses,” he said. “So if they let me wear them in the game that’d be good.”
Herro said the treatment was basic.
“They just put eyedrops in … to see if there was a scratch,” he said. “But everything came back good.”
Herro said he enjoyed the Heat’s fourth-quarter comeback as a spectator.
“That was a big quarter for us and guys stepped up and made some big plays,” he said.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team opted to exercise prudence when it came to handling the injury Tuesday.
“He was using the halftime to see if he could get back out there,” Spoelstra said. “And the trainers really decided like, ‘Hey, let’s not jump the gun so early in the season on this.’ "
The only players on the Heat’s injury report were Victor Oladipo (knee), Omer Yurtseven (ankle) and Jamal Cain (G League assignment), with all three listed as out.
Then, 90 minutes before game time, Jimmy Butler was ruled out for what the Heat listed as left-hip tightness, which also could be a way of the Heat resting Butler on the second night of the back-to-back set.
Poole party
No, Warriors guard Jordan Poole was not pleased after being called for three “discontinued dribble” violations on Tuesday night for what is typically referred to as carrying the ball.
Neither were the Warriors, also coach Steve Kerr did reveal that an email went out to teams Tuesday about an impending crackdown on the violations.
“I was shocked because basically the whole league does that,” Kerr said. “They’ve been doing it ever since Allen Iverson convinced referees that it wasn’t a carry. It was a carry. What [Michael] Jordan does is a carry. But the whole league’s been doing it.
“So I guess I gotta start checking my emails on game days.”
Warriors forward Draymond Green said if it truly is an officiating point of emphasis than he expects similar whistles on other teams.
“Every guard in the league carries, a lot,” he said. “So if it’s a point of emphasis, let’s see it.”
End games
With Tuesday’s game, the Heat and Warriors concluded their 2022-23 two-game series in just the Heat’s eighth game. It is the fewest games in franchise history they have completed a season series. The previous low was nine games into the 2016-17 season, with the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat’s game Wednesday against the Kings concluded that season series in nine games. …
The Heat’s 20 of 20 from the foul line against the Warriors tied the second most attempts without a miss in the franchise’s 35 seasons. The record remains 30 for 30 against the Boston Celtics on March 24, 1993. The Heat also went 20 of 20 from the line against the Philadelphia 76ers last March.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service