Miami Heat‘s Tyler Herro stood up for himself against Houston Rockets’ Amen Thompson on Sunday as tempers flared, escalating to a full-blown altercation. Despite the animosity between the two players, the Heat outlasted the Rockets, 104-100.
Late in the fourth quarter, things got heated between Herro and Thompson as the latter grabbed the Heat player’s jersey. While the situation was serious enough, the Rockets swingman threw the 3-foot-4 guard to the ground, leading players and coaches from both sides to stop the fight.
Miami’s Terry Rozier III charged at Thomspon and they had to be separated from each other. After the coaches got a hold of the players, the 6-foot-7 Rockets forward and Herro still said a few words to each other.
After the situation, there were several ejections from both teams. For the Rockets, it was Thompson, Jalen Green, head coach Ime Udoka and assistant Ben Sullivan. The Heat weren’t exempt as the referees tossed Herro and Rozier out of the game.
Reporters questioned Herro about the incident after the game. However, he downplayed what happened and threw shade at the Rockets forward.
“I guess that’s what happens when someone is scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” Herro said. “I’d get mad, too.”
Tyler Herro: "I guess that’s what happens when someone is scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing. I’d get mad, too.”
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 30, 2024
There is still no clear explanation of how things escalated between the two. However, the Heat guard was impressed with his scoring performance against the tough defense of the Rockets. Herro led the team in scoring with 27 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
Miami and Houston will play against each other one last time this season. Their final game in their regular season series will be on March 21.
Udoka addressed the Houston Rockets-Miami Heat altercation
Like the rest of the viewers who saw the altercation between the Miami Heat star and the Houston Rockets’ defensive wing, Udoka is also clueless about how it started. He spoke to the media about it after the game and informed them he had the opportunity to watch what transpired again. He was still unable to determine how the situation worsened during his second watch, though.
“I didn’t see a lot of it, but I rewatched it and they were in each other’s face, bumping chests a little bit,” Udoka said. “One guy started to yell.”
One of the seven individuals kicked out of the game was Udoka. As the head coach stated anything, he speculated that the official was shielding one of their crew members, which is why he was thrown out.
“If what I said gets me kicked out, I’d be kicked out of the game. Very minimal. He was talking to his staff, I was talking to him. I think he was trying to protect his crew.”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
