Last season, the Miami Heat made an unexpected entry into the NBA Finals as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference without guard Tyler Herro after he broke his hand in the first game of the postseason.

But according to coach Erik Spoelstra and the stats, the Heat are still the better team when Herro is on the court, especially on offense (the Heat scored 113.9 points per 100 possessions with Herro on the court last regular season, compared to 107.1 points per 100 possessions when he wasn’t on the court).

“He just makes our offense so much more dynamic,” Spoelstra said after the Heat’s 132-124 preseason win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night at Kaseya Center. “Tonight was a prime example of that, and we’re playing against a very good defense. It’s preseason, I get that. But our offense just looks a lot different when he’s on the court.”

Adebayo and Herro dominate and other takeaways from the Heat’s preseason win over the Grizzlies

Herro was able to showcase all of his offensive talent on Sunday, finishing the Heat’s third of five preseason games with a game-high 30 points, making 11 of 19 shots from the field, 4 of 7 three-pointers and 4 of 5 from the free throw line.

Herro, 23, scored on all three levels on Sunday, hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the basket, 1 of 4 from beyond the basket and 2 of 3 two-pointers from beyond the basket, as well as hitting four 3-pointers. He even made five free throws of his own, a number he looked to improve on this season after attempting 2.7 free throws per game last regular season.

“That’s the development of all the great players in this league who can score at all three levels,” Spoelstra continued, with the Heat now on hiatus until Wednesday’s preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center. “It’s about when you do something, the context, what’s the coverage, what’s the read, what’s best for your team on that possession. And the context of the previous possessions is important. I think Tyler studies the game and that takes time. Sometimes it just slows down after a few years and every year it becomes more and more dictated by that.”

Despite it being just a preseason game, Herro’s shot chart was encouraging and consistent with the adjustment he has made to his shot selection over the past few seasons. On Sunday, he attempted just three two-pointers or long mid-range shots from outside the basket area, as nine of his 19 shots came from inside the basket area and seven from behind the three-point line.

“The floater is a shot he always makes. So that’s a little different,” Spoelstra said. “With that, he’s a little closer to the restricted area and that keeps the defense on its toes. He has a great rate on those shots. And there will be times when context is important, when (a long mid-range shot) will be a good shot for him. A pull-up when he’s free from 16 to 18 feet. But he’s very efficient and assertive in his catches. A lot of them will be three-ball shots, especially playing with that starting lineup. In the second lineup, he does a little bit of everything, more on the ball and he made some really good reads tonight.”

In which areas has Herro improved the most in the last year?

“Man, he’s just so efficient now,” said Heat teammate Bam Adebayo. “His movement, less dribbling, he’s not trying much. He’s going straight to his points, going straight to his shots.”

Herro finished last regular season as the Heat’s third-leading scorer with 20.1 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 37.8 percent from three-point range. In his fifth NBA season, he wants to be a better, more efficient version of himself.

“That’s my job,” Herro said. “They didn’t draft me to be the same player I was when I was drafted. They drafted me to come here and improve, make my teammates better, be a good person for the community. That’s who I am, that’s what I do. And improving on the court is what I do every year, too.”

It helps that Herro has a little extra motivation after another offseason at the center of transfer rumors, as he was linked to the Heat’s pursuit of Damian Lillard this summer. But Lillard ended up with the Milwaukee Bucks and Herro stayed with the Heat.

“I’m always ambitious,” Herro said. “Motivation drives me and that’s who I am. But that’s who I am, so I’m myself every day. I’m just myself. This year is obviously, I wouldn’t even call it revenge or a comeback. It’s just a year where I can be myself and just have fun and enjoy what I love to do, which is play basketball. Tonight was a little bit of that.”

Herro then paused and made it clear that there is more to come: The Heat open the regular season on October 25 against the Detroit Pistons at the Kaseya Center.

“But,” he said, “it’s still preseason.”

INJURY UPDATE

The Heat were without Jimmy Butler (dental treatment), Caleb Martin (tendinosis of the left knee), Nikola Jovic (bruised right knee), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (strained left groin), Josh Richardson (pain in the left foot), RJ Hampton (strained right hip muscle) and Dru Smith (strained right thigh muscle) in Sunday’s warm-up game against the Grizzlies.

Butler and Martin have missed each of the Heat’s first three preseason games. Jovic, Jaquez, Richardson and Hampton have missed the Heat’s last two preseason games. And Sunday was the first game Smith has missed this preseason.

Asked before Sunday’s game whether any of the Heat’s injured players could be out for an extended period of time, Spoelstra said, “We’re taking everyone day by day. But in the next few days we’ll get a better indication.”

Butler is currently recovering from two dental surgeries he had in recent days, but is expected to be ready to play by the end of the week and is on track to be fit for the start of the regular season.

The Heat still have two preseason games left – Wednesday against the Nets at the Kaseya Center and Friday against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.