Miami Heat Rookie Ties Worst NBA Finals Stat Record with Kobe Bryant

Partly, call it a bad day, and the rest just a poor performance by the Miami Heat that they lost Finals Game 1 against the Lakers. Jimmy Butler and Co. had a rough day with numerous issues that led to a 116-98 defeat for the Eastern champions. But to add to this, an unusual Finals stat highlighted Tyler Herro’s limited contribution in that game that correlates to Kobe Bryant in 2008.

Tyler Herro has been an asset to Miami as a rookie this season. Their star player, Butler also agrees on his excellence as a youngster. But he failed to deliver in the opening game of the Finals against a star-studded Lakers.

Miami Heat rookie, Tyler Herro posted -35 in Finals Game 1

Herro had 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists to his name in those 30 minutes on the court. But the jaw-dropping figure fell under the plus/minus column. Herro finished at a low of -35 in Game 1, recording the worst plus-minus in NBA Finals. And guess what? He tied the great Kobe Bryant in one of these lowest Finals stats.

Kobe posted a -35 in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals against the Boston Celtics. He had recorded 22 points in that match.

While we don’t usually see a negative record coming Kobe’s way, it is an interesting fact to know. And now Tyler Herro joins him extremely early on in his career with this one.

It wasn’t much time back when Herro had dropped his career-high and record-breaking 37 points against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals Game 4. He had those many off the bench, which led to the most points scored by a rookie in a Playoff game.

Poor overall performance stands as a reason for fumbled numbers

While it is a shocking stat to look at, one thing remains, that the plus/minus highly depends on performances by other players as well. That day, Heat lineup went down in a domino effect with injuries lined up.

First Butler suffered an ankle injury but continued his game. Followed by that were Bam Adebayo (left shoulder strain) and Goran Dragic (foot injury). The prominent ones were resting and the burden of a big Finals night suddenly came over the bench players.

The Lakers completely dominated them and took away the victory quite easily and with a massive lead.