The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night, 117-111, off the back of an exceptional performance from Tyler Herro who is still in the midst of returning from a nagging foot injury that made him miss 20 games. However, he would start for the first time since the absence and lead the team with 33 points as himself and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra talk about his recovery.

Besides the 33 points, the one key statistic that is eye-opening is that he played 48 minutes as the game took two overtime periods on top of regulation to decide a winner. However, there is no time for rest as the Heat play again Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks as even Herro had some doubt about playing then since the team is cautious about back-to-backs according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“I’m hoping I feel up to playing tomorrow,” Herro said. “I know they didn’t want me to play back-to-backs, but I’m open to it. So I just got to see how I feel tomorrow.”

Spoelstra said Herro was “totally exhausted” in second overtime

Herro didn’t start the first two games back from injury, but with starting point guard Terry Rozier missing Tuesday with a neck injury, he filled in nicely. However, Spoelstra would admit after the game that Herro was “totally exhausted” in the second overtime period on top of that there “hasn’t been a minutes restriction” on the 24-year old.

“He was totally exhausted by that second overtime,” Spoelstra said. “He’s been cleared for everything. There hasn’t been a minutes restriction. But I’m going to hide and duck away from the training staff because we’re at this point where it’s by any means necessary.”

Herro said he feels “good,” but “still a little sore”

When Herro spoke about how he feels after the win and his huge performance, he said while he feels good, the area of the injury is “still a little sore.” His specific issue that the University of Kentucky product dealt with was “right foot; medial tendinitis” where before his return on April 5 against the Houston Rockets, his last game played was on Feb. 23 vs. The New Orleans Pelicans.

“I feel good,” Herro said. “My foot is still a little sore. It’s tendinitis that I’m dealing with. So some days it will feel better than others, some days worse than others. I’m just trying to manage it. A lot of ice, a lot of treatment on off days and preparation for the game is just continuing to ramp up. My teammates, my coaches trust me to step right back in. The preparation I put into it, I take that very seriously and I always have and I always will.”

Herro gives insight into recovery process with Heat

At this point of the season, Herro was aching to be out there with his teammates as the Heat are trying to repeat last year’s magic and go back to the NBA Finals in which he missed most of that run with a broken hand. He revealed after the Hawks win that he was “just trying to stay positive” throughout his recovery.

“It was tough,” Herro said. “Just being almost healthy, like my whole body was healthy except one part of my foot that just continued to linger on. Obviously, I wanted to be on the court. But just trying to stay positive and get healthy as soon as possible was my mindset throughout that time. I never figured I would be out for the season. So just trying to get back as quickly as possible was my thing.”

“My preparation through the summer, through the beginning of the season is obviously for the playoffs,” Herro continued. “I mean, everyone’s whole year is to ramp up for the playoffs. That’s the best time of the year, so just trying to ramp up and continue to stay healthy for that time.”

The Heat are 44-35 which puts them eighth in the tightly packed Eastern Conference as there are three games left in the season. They have one simple goal now if they want an off-chance to be out of the play-in tournament and it’s to win out and hope for the best as their next game is Wednesday night against the Mavericks and their final two games will be at home vs. the Toronto Raptors.