Aheah of Miami’s Friday night game against the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat star Tyler Herro shared his thoughts on the NBA’s travel call after his game-winning shot against the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night.
“I really don’t care at all,” Herro said, per the Sun Sentinel. “Maybe if it ended in a loss, but we won — I’m just going to play my game, and if they call a travel, they call a travel.”
The League announced the missed call a day after the game, as Herro picked up his dribble off a pump fake and changed his pivot in the motion of the three-point shot.
We only needed 2, a Herro came to the rescue with 3
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 3, 2022
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That kind of moment has defined Herro’s season thus far. Herro is second on the Heat in scoring, averaging 18.6 points a game to go along with career highs in both rebounds (6.6) and field goal percentage (47.8).
Unwilling to give up a third loss in their last four games, Coach Erik Spoelstra spoke on the call and how sometimes officiating hasn’t gone their way.
“They’re just really tough calls at the end of games,” said Spoelstra. “We’ve been on both sides of it. So I can understand the frustration on their side of it — The game can be decided in so many different ways and not just a whistle at the end of a game.”
Kings Coach Mike Brown was upset the travel wasn’t called but credited his group for putting up a fight to last season’s number one seed in the East.
“I would not be doing my job if I didn’t come up here and protect my guys,” said Brown. “To pump fake on a sidestep, a sidestep or hop, and then one-two and a shot and not make that call, to me, it’s just unbelievable. It’s not why we lost the game, although I don’t think we got a fair whistle.”
Criticizing officiating is a tale as old as sports itself. The scrutiny around the missed call has unforeseen consequences that may not be understood until the season starts to matter in April.
