FIGHT NIGHT!
Thompson-Herro fight leads to ejections in Heat's victory over Rockets
Dec 30, 2024, 10:57 am
FIGHT NIGHT!
Rockets forward Amen Thompson threw Heat guard Tyler Herro to the floor to trigger an altercation that resulted in six ejections in the closing minute of Miami's 104-100 victory over Houston on Sunday.
Thompson and Herro became entangled with Miami about to inbound the ball leading 99-94 with 35 seconds left. Thompson grabbed Herro by the jersey and tossed him, with referee Marc Davis describing it as Thompson “body slams Herro.”
“I didn’t see it live, but I re-watched it,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “They were in each other’s face, bumping chests a little bit, and one guy’s stronger than the other.”
Herro, Thompson, and Udoka were ejected, as were Heat guard Terry Rozier, Rockets guard Jalen Green, and Rockets assistant coach Ben Sullivan.
Davis said Green and Rozier escalated the altercation, while Sullivan was assessed a technical foul and ejected for unsportsmanlike comments as the referee was trying to redirect the Rockets' Alperen Sengun.
The altercation occurred after Miami had come from 12 points down in the second half to regain the lead with the help of Houston missing 11 straight shots in the fourth quarter. Herro keyed the comeback, leading all scorers with 27 points and adding nine assists and six rebounds.
He believed that's what frustrated Thompson.
“Guess that’s what’s happens when someone’s scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” Herro said. “I’d get mad, too.”
Herro said he had never spoken to Thompson, who did not talk to reporters after Sunday’s game, so there was no previous bad blood between the two.
“Just two competitors going at it, playing basketball,” Herro said. “It was a regular game that we were playing throughout.”
Houston's Fred VanVleet had been ejected just before the fight, with Davis saying VanVleet made contact with him after being called for a 5-second violation.
The win for Miami came 24 hours after losing 120-110 in Atlanta. The Heat were missing second-leading scorer Jimmy Butler for a fifth straight game, so Herro was proud of his team played against one of NBA’s best teams this season.
“They’re top two, three in the West,” Herro said. “Very good defense. Got a bunch of young, athletic guys that can really play, so that’s a good win for us. That’s a stepping stone. We go 2-1 on the road. Put ourselves in a position to win yesterday, and I like how it’s going. We just got to continue to keep getting better.”
The Houston Texans head to Nashville this Sunday to take on the Titans and put a bow on the regular season. There's not much at stake for either team outside of pride, and draft positioning for Tennessee.
Speaking of pride, the Titans will be sporting the Oilers throwback uniforms in the season finale, so that could add some extra motivation. Especially considering the bad blood between these two franchises.
The main focus for the Texans this week should be getting through the game healthy, and trying to recapture some success on offense after a disappointing season.
Newly acquired receiver Diontae Johnson should get some valuable reps in this week's contest, and it would be great to see CJ Stroud develop some chemistry with Johnson before the playoffs begin next week.
If it were up to us, Stroud and the top starters wouldn't see the field this week. But it looks like Texans HC DeMeco Ryans plans to play his starters and see how the game progresses.
While it would be nice to see the offense click even against the lowly Titans, it's hard to imagine this week will be any different from the rest of the regular season.
However, we understand that the Texans would like to wash the bad taste out of their mouths after laying an egg on Christmas against the Ravens.
What does Vegas think?
The Titans are favored by 1.5 and the total is set at 37 points. This matchup features the lowest total of the week, so points could be hard to come by.
Playoff path
It appears the Texans are likely to face either the Steelers or Chargers in the Wild Card round. If we had to chose, we would prefer Houston face the Steelers, because the Chargers are stronger at quarterback.
But Steelers fans travel, so the Texans won't have much of a home field advantage with half the stadium full of Steelers fans.
This is one video you don't want to miss as we preview Texans-Titans, reveal some Pro Bowl snubs, and look ahead to the NFL postseason.