Charlotte Hornets Can’t Waste Golden Opportunity In Game 6
After a huge road win in Miami, and taking a 3-2 series lead, the Charlotte Hornets must take care of business in Game 6 and close-out the Miami Heat
The Charlotte Hornets were down double-digits and Nicolas Batum needed to be helped off the floor. It was also Game 2.
The Miami Heat were on their way to a second-straight convincing win over the Hornets. Through that point, as the Heat took a 2-0 series lead, Miami looked like the better team. Their offense was clicking – Miami shot 58 percent from the field through two games – and their defense took away Charlotte’s biggest offensive advantage, the three-point shot.
The question wasn’t “if” the Heat went on to win this series, it was “when”. That’s when it all changed though.
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As the series shifted to Charlotte for Games 3 and 4, and as Steve Clifford mulled over sliding Frank Kaminsky or Jeremy Lin into the starting lineup, the Heat lost their magic – on offense and defense.
During the two games in Charlotte, which both resulted in wins for the Hornets, the Heat were outscored by 20 points. To add injury to insult, they turned in two sub-40 percent shooting performances as well.
On the flip side, Clifford turned the entire blueprint on Miami. The Hornets pounded the Heat in the paint, in the tune of winning the paint battled by a combined 96-58. The Heat were the third best points in the paint team in the regular season. The Hornets were second-to-last in the NBA.
Now, it was the opposite.
Clifford’s defensive adjustment, to clog the paint and force the Heat to continue to shoot an outrageous percentage on jumpers, worked to a T.
After two wins in Charlotte, it was a brand new series. And all the Hornets needed to get right back in the driver seat, after falling into a 2-0 hole, was to win one game in Miami.
That’s exactly what they did in Game 5, as they out-battled the Heat on their home floor to take a 3-2 series lead. The series now shifts back to Charlotte, where the Hornets will have the opportunity to win their first playoff series since 2002.
The Charlotte Hornets, now somewhat fully healthy as Nic Batum made his way back into the team’s rotation, have a great opportunity at hand. This series has come full circle.
Word is that the most difficult victory to get is a close-out win in a playoff series, especially for a team that has not exactly been there before. That’s exactly what the Hornets will have to do Friday.
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Unlike the Heat, the Hornets must take care of business at home. They can’t let this go to a Game 7 in Miami. No way.