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For much of the Miami Heat’s overachieving 2020 NBA playoff run, All-Rookie Second Team member Tyler Herro has been the talk of the town, and deservedly so.
After a respectable regular season debut, the 2020 draft’s 13th overall pick turned up the heat for South Beach in the postseason, particularly in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics.
In the midst of that white-hot run, however, another Heat rookie was notably absent, Kendrick Nunn.
As an untimely bout with COVID-19 suddenly pushed Nunn out of the rotation, veteran Goran Dragic took back the starting point guard spot until Game 1 of the NBA Finals, with impressive results to boot, as he averaged a team-best 20.9 points per game.
However, with Dragic now down and likely out following a torn left plantar fascia in his left foot, Nunn quickly picked up where he left off. (READ: Dragic, Adebayo doubtful for Game 2 of NBA Finals)
The 24-year-old guard erupted for 18 points in 20 minutes as the Heat still got blown out by the mighty Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1, 118-96.
Even with Nunn only averaging a pitiful 3.2 points per game on an ice-cold 29% clip in the playoffs prior to the finals, Fil-Am Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said his faith in the rookie never wavered.
“You’re always rooting for him. This has been a tough playoff for him,” he told the Miami Herald after a brutal Game 1 loss, which saw Dragic, and All-Stars Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler all go down with a variety of injuries.
“The human side of it, you want to get him in there, you want him to play well and, based on where we are, we could use his scoring punch, and you have to guard him and he’s very skilled, so we’ll see where we are for the next game,” Spoelstra continued.
Before Herro got his name out, it was the undrafted Nunn who took the league by storm after starting all 67 of his regular season outings, all while Dragic backed him up as the sixth man.
In fact, it was Nunn, not Herro, who was selected to this year’s All-Rookie First Team after averaging 15.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.7 rebounds as the Rookie of the Year runner-up to Memphis’ Ja Morant.
With the possibility of going down 0-2 in the best-of-seven finals series becoming more and more likely given the availability of the Heat’s top stars, Nunn has remained unfazed and ready to go to war once again.
“I don’t think I need a [pep] speech or anything like that, because I’m ready. I’m ready to play. I’ve been ready to play all season and I have to step up. Simple as that. Guys are down, but I’m ready to play,” he said in the Game 2 media day on Friday, October 2.
Butler, who stayed to play in Game 1 despite rolling his left ankle twice, was likewise confident with what the high-flying Nunn can bring to the table moving forward.
“That’s what he does. He stayed ready, he’s working on his game and he’s in it to win it,” he said.
“He knows the schemes and it looks like he’s going to be in this rotation. I sure hope so because he definitely showed what he can do on the big stage.” – Rappler.com
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