Preview: Hornets host Heat for home opener – At The Hive

What: Charlotte Hornets (1-1) vs Miami Heat (0-1)

When: 7:00pm Eastern

Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC

How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass

Outfitting: Hornets–Icon (teal), Heat–Association (white)

Game Lines: Hornets +3.5, O/U 220.5

Injuries:
Hornets: Brandon Miller-out (glute), Mark Williams-out (foot), DaQuan Jeffries-out (hand)

Heat: Kevin Love-out (personal), Kel’el Ware-out (tummy ache), Josh Richardson-questionable (heel)

The Heat have higher expectations than the Hornets, but I’m kind of surprised that they’re comfortable favorites on the road against a Hornets team that has been competitive through two games. The Heat have only played one, so they do have a rest advantage, but they were dreadful in their season opener against the Magic. They lost by 19 points even though the Magic didn’t score for the last 6:15 of the game. It took a 13-0 run to close the game to avoid what was tracking a 30+ point loss. And it was at home.

The struggles started with the Heat’s two cornerstone pieces. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each played 26 minutes and each made exactly one shot. Butler finished with just three points, his fewest in a game since New Years Day 2021. Something tells me that date isn’t a coincidence.

Terry Rozier and Tyler Herro were better, though the former Hornet was rather inefficient in getting his 19 points. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was good off the bench.

Those five are going to be the protagonists for the Heat again tonight, and they’ll obviously need better performances from all of them to right the ship.

The Hornets need to do a better job putting the ball in the hole to open the Spectrum Center with a win. The 3-point shooting has been good, but the interior finishing has been lacking. It’s going to be hard to correct that with Adebayo patrolling the paint and Butler harassing ball handlers around the paint. It does help that Kel’el Ware is out with a stomach illness. He was a headache in the preseason, and without him, the Heat will be reliant on Thomas Bryant to soak up all of the backup center minutes. He can be a problem in his own right, but he’s not quite the defensive menace.

It’ll be Terry Rozier’s first game in Charlotte since the team traded him away last January. I expect there to be a little something giving him a shoutout, and his old teammates will surely be happy to see him. Hopefully the crowd gives him a nice welcome.

The Hornets will also be honoring the memory of former PA announcer Big Pat during a halftime ceremony.