The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets have something in common — and they don’t like it.
Both teams suffered lopsided losses at home on Friday night.
Now they’ll face off for the first time this season on Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C.
The Hornets will try to recover from a 128-81 drubbing by the Atlanta Hawks.
“It’s one loss on our record,” Charlotte guard Sion James said. “Whether we had won or lost, we have to show back up here at 6 o’clock (Saturday) and got to be better. … Really see what kind of energy and fight we come out with tomorrow, and we expect that to be at a much higher level.”
Miami fell 128-111 to the Detroit Pistons, and that result was closer than the 25-point setback in the Heat’s opener two days earlier vs. Minnesota.
Miami gave up 41 first-quarter points against the Timberwolves and 38 in the third quarter to Detroit.
The Heat are winless through two games, though newcomer Giannis Antetokounmpo racked up 36 points and 12 rebounds against the Pistons. There are several areas that are concerning, though perhaps not alarming to coach Erik Spoelstra.
“We want to establish our mentality,” he said. “That’s what everybody is trying to do early on.”
Charlotte allowed 97 points through three quarters to Atlanta and trailed by as many as 49. That created disgruntled Hornets fans during the home opener.
“If you hear boos, you’ve got to be able to play better basketball,” Charlotte coach Charles Lee said.
Lee said there could be plenty to gain from the experience if the Hornets have the right response.
“When things aren’t going your way, what is your focus going to be?” he said. “A good learning opportunity for us to realize that there are things that we can control in those moments.”
Spoelstra said that when opponents go on big runs, errors become more glaring.
“How we collectively build a resolve,” he said. “That will be something we work on and get better.”
Charlotte also had troubles on offense, with missed shots and turnovers piling up.
“We didn’t respond well to it,” James said. “A lot of it was good plays defensively. But more often than that, we were just making the wrong decisions with the ball. We were putting ourselves in positions that we didn’t need to be in.”
The Hornets shot 11-for-51 on 3-point attempts. There also are the matters of taking more pride in every possession and valuing the ball, Lee said.
“Our biggest thing is less about the volume of what our shot profile looks like,” he said, “and more so we want to create the best uncontested shot that we can get.”
Charlotte swingman Brandon Miller is 4-for-25 on 3-point attempts through two games.
“I have the utmost confidence that some of these shots that he’s taking he’s going to knock down at a higher clip as we just keep going throughout the year,” Lee said.
–Field Level Media
