Heat's Tyler Herro to Return from Hand Injury for NBA Finals Game 5 vs. Nuggets

With the Miami Heat's season on the line Monday night, the team is getting back a much-needed source of offense.

The Heat announced that Tyler Herro would be available for Game 5:

Earlier in the day, his status for the game had been upgraded to questionable:

Herro, 23, has played all of 19 minutes in these playoffs, having broken his right hand on April 16. That cost the Heat a player who averaged 20.3 points and 4.3 assists per game during the regular season while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 37.8 percent from three.

Despite the absence of the 2021-22 Sixth Man of the Year, the Heat rode hot perimeter shooting, a tough defensive identity and the heroics of Jimmy Butler to the NBA Finals.

The Heat find themselves down 3-1 against the Denver Nuggets, however, having shot just 8-of-25 (32 percent) from beyond the arc in Game 4 and 11-of-35 from three (31.4 percent) in Game 3, both losses.

While it's fair to question if a potentially rusty Herro, who has sat for the past two months, will be enough of a boost to keep the Heat alive for another game, his presence won't hurt.

Certainly, it will give the Heat more options in the backcourt.

It's probably unlikely—and unfair to expect—that Herro will pull off a Willis Reed-esque moment. But the Heat need to win three straight games, so it's an all-hands-on-deck situation for the team, and Herro is one of its most important offensive contributors.

If he can give the Heat any contribution in Game 5, and potentially beyond, it will be an enormous boost.