The Miami Heat will have a short amount of time to reflect on Tuesday night’s loss, as they head immediately on the road to face the Charlotte Hornets in the second night of a back-to-back. The time off from the week prior has put the team in a schedule that includes one-two days in between games up until the in-season tournament.
Charlotte comes into the matchup sporting a 6-11 record and sit at the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference. The Heat have dropped back below .500 with a 7-8 record and fall to the sixth seed, just .5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks and .5 games in front of the seventh seed Indiana Pacers.
It has been a shaky start for most of the East’s teams, and Miami has been unable to pounce on the opportunity thus far. Their struggles have been stemmed by inconsistent rotations and lineup changes, with yesterday’s game featuring the most recent adjustment. Terry Rozier has been officially moved to the Heat’s sixth man role off the bench, and provided a valuable impact with his clutch shot making in the closing minutes.
Rozier finished with 17 points on 7/9 shooting and got support from Jimmy Butler’s 23 points on 50% shooting. However, Bam Adebayo’s foul troubles and Tyler Herro’s 5/14 shooting overall made it difficult to overcome. Outside of Pelle Larsson, Miami got minimal contributions from the rest of the supporting cast outside of a few second half 3-pointers from Duncan Robinson.
This team needs to take advantage of the next few games before a difficult 10-game stretch that includes games against several contending groups. The Hornets will be relying on the superstar play of LaMelo Ball as they deal with a loaded injury report ahead of tonight’s matchup. Miami was able to secure a win in Charlotte in the beginning of the season and will look to replicate that success for a much needed bounce back win.
Tonight’s game will tip off at 7:00 PM EST on FanDuel SN Sun.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- NOT YET SUBMITTED.
Charlotte Hornets:
- Miles Bridges (knee) — OUT
- Nick Richards (rib) — OUT
- Tre Mann (back) — OUT
- Grant Williams (ACL) — OUT
- Mark Williams (foot) — OUT
- DaQuan Jeffries (hand) — OUT
- Jared Rhoden (g-league) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Duncan Robinson, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Charlotte Hornets:
- LaMelo Ball, G
- Josh Green, G
- Brandon Miller, F
- Tidjane Salaun, F
- Taj Gibson, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:00 PM EST
- TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
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