What: Charlotte Hornets (7-13) (4-7 home) vs Miami Heat (12-10) (7-6 away)
When: 7:00pm Eastern
Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC
How to watch: Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Icon (teal) Heat–Icon (black)
Game Lines: Hornets +3.5, O/U 222.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Mark Williams-doubtful (back), Nick Smith Jr.-doubtful (ankle), LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Cody Martin-out (knee), Frank Ntilikina-out (leg)
Heat: Bam Adebayo-out (hip), Tyler Herro-out (ankle), Haywood Highsmith-out (back)
Half of the ten projected starters for this game are out. It might be the first time all season that the Hornets are missing less impactful players than their opponent. Herro and Adebayo are the Heat’s two leading scorers, and Adebayo is also the anchor of their defense. Their absences are going to be a huge detriment to the visitors. Highsmith is a less heralded player, but he provides the kind of defensive presence that the Heat covet.
The held up without Herro in the lineup, but they’ve predictably struggled in the small sample size without both he and Adebayo. Adebayo went down in the Pacers game, which the Heat ended up winning by a very not Heat score of 142-132. They’ve lost two of their three since that game, and their 120.9 defensive ratings in those games is the fifth worst in the league in that span. Adebayo’s minutes are being replaced by a combination of Orlando Robinson and Kevin Love. It’s a perfect opportunity for the Hornets to go small with Williams out of the lineup.
A fun sub-matchup to watch will be between the teams’ two first round picks. Jaime Jaquez has been one of the better rookies in the league–he’s averaging 12.2 points per game with a nice helping of rebounds assists to go along with that, and he’s scoring efficiently from the field. Hornets rookie Brandon Miller has put up slightly better numbers. They’ll probably guard each other a fair amount, which will be interesting to watch.
The Hornets dropped a competitive first meeting between these two teams. Jimmy Butler poured in a game high 32 points while Bam Adebayo had a 21 point, 11 rebound double double. The second half of that equation is out. Hopefully that’s enough for the Hornets to get a win.
