Coming from a deflating loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat (12-4 Overall, 7-0 Home) return to their winning ways and beat the Charlotte Hornets (6-12 Overall, 3-7 Away), 117-100. Miami remains undefeated at home thanks to a big scoring performances and flat out defense.
In the opening quarter, Charlotte jumped out to an early lead 7-2 and remained in the lead until Miami narrowed the gap with five quick points from Tyler Herro. Both teams battled continued to be neck-and-neck until the Heat pulled away late in the first to close out the quarter, 36-31.
In the second quarter, Miami remained in the lead, outscoring the Hornets, 33-27. The Heat were up by as much as 18 before the Hornets chipped away to bring the deficit down to 11. Miami cruised into halftime, 69-58.
Coming out of halftime, the Heat continued to steamroll the Hornets. For the rest of the second half, Miami fed off the energy of the home crowd and put the Hornets away to remain undefeated at home.
Bam Adebayo added another double-double performance (21 points &13 rebounds) in the win along with Jimmy Butler dropping 21 points and Kendrick Nunn putting up 19 points as well. Miami also had plenty of firepower from the bench with Herro scoring 18 points and Kelly Olynyk chipping in 15.
Again, Miami looked impressive against Charlotte, but one thing stands out, it’s the turnovers. I’m not concerned about scoring and not our defense, but turnovers will kill this team in the long run. Against the Hornets (13 TO), which is almost last in the Eastern Conference, had fewer turnovers than Miami (18 TO). To be fair, it’s encouraging to see that the Heat can remain locked in despite having key injuries in Justise Winslow, Derrick Jones Jr., James Johnson, and others.
Miami heads to Houston (11-6 Overall, 6-2 Home) on Wednesday to face the Houston Rockets. The Rockets are currently in a slump, losing their last three games. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
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