How Ty Jerome and the Cavaliers mercilessly targeted Tyler Herro in their Game 1 win over Miami

Who had "Ty Jerome does an imitation of LeBron James in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals" on their playoff opening weekend bingo card? Anyone? Anyone at all? Jerome scoring 20 out of 28 points during one stretch for Cleveland isn't quite as unprecedented as James scoring 29 of Cleveland's last 30 against a championship defense, but think about the context here.

LeBron James is ... well ... LeBron James. Jerome was a relatively anonymous reserve before the season. He has 1,986 career points. LeBron pretty regularly exceeds that in single seasons. What James did was more meaningful. What Jerome did was more surprising. When was the last time you saw a bench player take over a playoff game so thoroughly? What has to happen for that to even be possible.

The answer, once again, depends on context. Jerome wasn't playing against the 2007 Detroit Pistons. He was playing against the 2025 Miami Heat. More accurately, I suppose, he was playing against one member of the 2025 Miami: Tyler Herro, who Cleveland attacked mercilessly during its Game 1 victory. Herro's presence went a long way towards making Jerome's big night possible, because for a lengthy stretch of the fourth quarter, Cleveland's offense more or less boiled down to "let Ty run pick-and-roll at Herro."

That's right. Ty versus Tyler.

Don't believe me? Herro re-entered the game at the 7:46 mark of the fourth quarter. Jerome quickly splashed a 3-pointer, but it came on a sideline out-of-bounds play in which Herro was on the other end of the floor. Starting on their next possession, it was happy hunting. Darius Garland ran a Spain pick-and-roll to get Jerome the ball at the top of the key. He calls Max Strus, Herro's defender, over to screen for him. Once he has Herro on him, he drives into a foul.

Next possession: Herro gets stuck on Jerome in the transition cross match. He calls Jarrett Allen over for a screen, and Davion Mitchell is so concerned about what Jerome is going to do as a driver that he stays in help position a split-second too long, leaving Sam Merrill, one of the best shooters in the NBA, open for 3.

Two possessions after that, Jerome again calls for an Allen screen. Bam Adebayo effectively has to defend two players. If he drops into the paint, Jerome walks into a floater. So he tries to split the difference and winds up letting Allen slip past him. Easy layup.

Remember the impossible decision we just covered Adebayo being forced to make? Well, on the very next possession, he goes the other way, dropping deep to protect against Allen's roll. Sure enough, Jerome not only makes the floater, but also gets to the line.

By now, you know the trend. We start with a Jerome-Allen pick-and-roll. Herro falls behind Jerome, gets him to overcommit in recovery, and then sinks the turnaround jumper.

One last time for good measure. Allen screens Herro off of Jerome. Herro falls out of the play. By the time he gets his bearings, Jerome has a clean look at a 3. Swish.

All of these plays come within roughly a three-minute stretch. The Cavaliers put this game away by hunting for Herro, and the truth is, they built their lead with plenty of Herro hunting too. In the first half, it was Darius Garland. Watch him just absolutely blow by Herro in the first quarter for one of the easiest runners of his season.

In the second quarter, watch Herro and Mitchell miscommunicate on a double-drag pick-and-roll that leaves Strus wide-open for a triple.

A minute or so later, Garland shakes him thanks to a quick Allen re-screen. By the time Herro is back in the play, Garland is ready for the side-step 3.

Cleveland just had the second-best offensive regular season in NBA history. Stopping the Cavaliers right now requires a nearly perfect combination of physical tools and schematic discipline. Herro lacked both in Game 1, and that poses very serious problems for the Heat.

Remember, Herro was a rookie when Miami made the Finals in 2020. He had a number of huge games, but he started only five of their 21 playoff games. He missed most of the 2023 Finals run, which Miami made largely on the back of its defense and Jimmy Butler's scoring.

But Butler is gone now. The Miami offense belongs entirely to Herro, and deservedly so. He made his first All-Star Game this season and has grown significantly as a shot-creator. The Heat offense is nearly nine points per 100 possessions worse when Herro rests, so they can't take him out and lean on Butler anymore. He has to be on the floor for pretty much the entire game in a playoff setting, and even if the Heat are a No. 8 seed without serious expectations this season, that is probably going to be the case moving forward.

If they can't figure out a way to make him viable defensively when opponents hunt him like this, he's going to put a cap on Miami's long-term postseason ambitions. He spent Game 1 with a target on his back, and even if it was a historic offense firing at it, it wasn't exactly a historic player doing so.

One weak defensive link shouldn't be enough to turn Ty Jerome into LeBron James. It was on Sunday, and that's the single biggest problem the Heat need to solve if they plan to compete in this series.