Heat’s Tyler Herro again out for Game 6 of East finals with groin injury

The Miami Heat will face elimination without one of its best players.

Guard Tyler Herro, who was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year this season, will miss his third straight game on Friday night because of a strained left groin.

Erik Spoelstra planning to stick with same Heat starting lineup for Game 6

Herro, 22, traveled with the team to Boston and was listed as questionable on the injury report for Game 6 before being ruled out about 90 minutes before tipoff. The Heat, which entered Friday trailing the Boston Celtics 3-2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals, continues to take a cautious approach with the injury despite Herro’s push to play.

“These are not easy conversations or decisions,” Spoelstra said of again holding out Herro. “He’s definitely made progress, but he’s not quite ready to step into this kind of intensity of a game.

“As badly as he wants to get out there, this is the most responsible decision for us.”

Herro averaged an inefficient 12.3 points on 39 percent shooting from the field on 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) shooting from three-point range in three East finals games before missing Games 4, 5 and 6. But he was one of the Heat’s top offensive weapons in the regular season, averaging 20.7 points on a team-high 17 shots per game.

The Heat will miss Herro’s shot creation and three-level scoring ability against the Celtics’ elite defense. Guard Victor Oladipo will again be relied on to play a bigger offensive role off the Heat’s bench to help fill some of the void Herro leaves behind.

Herro is the only Heat player who will miss Friday’s game.

The rest of the players on the Heat’s injury report — Kyle Lowry (left hamstring strain), Max Strus (right hamstring strain), P.J. Tucker (left knee irritation) and Gabe Vincent (left hamstring strain) — will be available to play in Game 6 despite being listed as questionable.