Four takeaways from the Charlotte Hornets’ 104-86 loss to the Miami Heat
After a close loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers just 24 hours earlier, Hornets coach James Borrego was hoping his team could put the loss behind it and respond with a win against the Heat on Saturday.
For one half, the Hornets looked like a team that might do that.
Then the third quarter happened.
And the Heat (34-20), which is second in the Eastern Conference standings, took over, dealing the Hornets their fourth consecutive loss 104-86.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Center Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 12 rebounds.
It was the second night of a back-to-back for the Hornets, and it showed. They are struggling.
Here are four takeaways from the game:
Halftime woes
For the second consecutive game, the Hornets came out sluggish to start the second half. The Heat started the third quarter on a 28-6 run before forward Miles Bridges scored a layup to finally give the Hornets some life.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there though. The Heat went on to outscore the Hornets 35-9 in the quarter. It was the fewest points the Hornets have scored in a quarter since March 21, 2016, when they scored seven points against the San Antonio Spurs.
There was a 5 1/12-minute stretch in the third quarter that the Hornets didn’t score.
The biggest reason for the Hornets’ struggles Saturday?
Turnovers. The Hornets couldn’t take care of the basketball. They turned it over seven times in the quarter, which led to easy points for the Heat.
“They are an aggressive defense,” Borrego said. “In the third quarter, they got the best of us there. We’ve just got to hold it together and find some other ways to create some more opportunities offensively.”
The Hornets also missed their shots. They went 4 of 18 from the floor.
“We didn’t have the same ball movement we had in the first half,” Hornets forward Miles Bridges said. “We got stagnant a little bit, we stopped cutting and they started scoring the ball more. We had our head down after they started hitting 3s and it just went down hill from there.”
Shots just not falling
The shots just haven’t been falling for the Hornets. The Hornets shot 41.3% from the floor Friday against Cleveland and were 38.4% against Miami.
Gordon Hayward struggled again for the second consecutive night. After going 3 for 13 on Friday night in what was his first game in two weeks, Hayward went 0 for 7 from the floor and finished with no points and three rebounds.
The Hornets must figure out a way to get Hayward going. His offense has been missed recently.
Small forward Kelly Oubre, who finished with nine points, was 3 of 15 from the floor overall and 1 of 9 from 3-point range.
Guard LaMelo Ball finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
“What do I want to see be better? After the game, when it says, ‘final,’ I would like our team’s score to be better than the other team’s final score,” Ball said.
Incident on the bench
Rookie guard James Bouknight appeared to get into an argument with Borrego on the bench at the end of the third quarter and had to be held back.
Bouknight was sent back to the locker room and did not return to the bench during the fourth quarter.
“Obviously, we were a little frustrated in the third quarter, early fourth,” Borrego said. “We got a little emotional there. Beyond that, I’ll leave it there.”
When asked did the disagreement have to do with playing time, Borrego said he understood Bouknight’s frustration.
“He obviously wants to play,” Borrego said. “I get that. He’s a kid we believe in, we trust in. We’re going to try to find more minutes for him, more time.”
Bouknight played in the final few seconds of the third quarter after the game had gotten out of reach.
The Hornets drafted Bouknight 11th overall in the 2021 NBA draft. He’s averaging five points in 24 games.
Eastern Conference standings
The Eastern conference is tight this season. Only six games separate the top nine teams. The Hornets came into this weekend’s game seventh in the Eastern Conference.
But after two more losses, they sit at ninth and would be in jeopardy of playing in the play-in game if the playoffs were to start today.
The Hornets are now 28-26 on the season. They trail the eighth place Celtics by one game.
The Hornets next game is against the Raptors (28-23) at home on Monday.
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 9:16 PM.
