The Miami Heat must be thrilled that the Charlotte Hornets are coming in for Monday night’s game.
Charlotte has lost nine of its past 10 games.
In addition, the Heat have beaten the Hornets six straight times.
The last time Charlotte defeated Miami was a 108-103 victory on Feb. 25, 2023.
Charlotte hasn’t won a playoff series since 2002. And the last two times the Hornets made the postseason — in 2014 and 2016 — they were eliminated by the Heat in the first round both times.
At the moment, the Hornets are plagued by injuries. Brandon Miller (wrist), Grant Williams (knee) and Tre Mann (back) are all out for the season.
In addition, LaMelo Ball (ankle), Mark Williams (foot) and Jusuf Nurkic (back) are listed as day-to-day. Josh Okogie (hamstring) remains sidelined.
When Charlotte’s season opened in October with a win at Houston, Miller and Ball were starters, and Grant Williams and Mann each played 25-plus minutes off the bench.
In addition, Mark Williams (9.9) and Nurkic (8.5) are Charlotte’s top-two rebounders this season.
As for Hornets players who have been healthy this season, there are a couple of notable names — Josh Green and Miles Bridges.
Green leads Charlotte in games (57) and starts (56), but he is averaging just 7.4 points and 2.7 rebounds.
Bridges, second on the Hornets with 49 starts, has been Charlotte’s best overall player. He is averaging 20.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
Nurkic, who got hurt in a 118-117 loss to Cleveland on Friday, is hoping to return against Miami. He was injured after taking a hard fall following a steal and a dunk.
“After I fell,” Nurkic said, “I said, ‘I’m OK. I’m fine.'”
The good news for the Hornets is that they closed Saturday’s game with a 12-0 run, rallying to beat the Nets, 105-102. Bridges led Charlotte with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists as the Hornets broke their nine-game losing streak.
Now the Hornets start a four-game road trip with a matchup at Miami, where the Heat on Saturday night coughed up a late lead and lost 114-109 to the Chicago Bulls.
Chicago outscored Miami in the fourth quarter, 36-20. Miami made just 1-of-11 of its 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.
The good news for the Heat on Saturday was the return of two injured starters — Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware.
Wiggins scored a team-high-tying 22 points in 28 minutes, and Ware added seven points, a team-high 12 rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 27 minutes.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra thought there was fatigue for his team in general, and he criticized himself for playing Wiggins and Ware too many minutes.
“There was a loose minute restriction that I stretched with the two of them,” Spoelstra said.
Overall, the Heat have lost three straight games — and all three of those defeats were by five points or fewer.
“We’re in this together,” Spoelstra said. “That’s what I told our players (after the game). This is an opportunity for us to face our demons.”
“This is not something that is comfortable for any of us. But I see something amazing on the other side if we can collectively overcome this.”
–Field Level Media
