Hornets Sleepwalk Through Playoff Loss
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 2016 Playoffs did not start well for the Charlotte Hornets, as they were routed by the Miami Heat 123-91 in Miami on Sunday.
Charlotte entered the playoffs as a possible sleeper team capable of pulling off a first round upset. Sunday night, the Hornets just looked asleep.
Luol Deng led the Heat with 31 points and set the tone for the evening by knocking down a corner three on the team’s first possession. The Hornets looked lethargic and over matched at every turn. Hassan Whiteside looked like a man among boys on his ways to 21 points and 11 rebounds. His athleticism and energy were too much for the Hornets undersized lineup. Charlotte was out rebounded 42-28, which means Miami was the more physical and aggressive team. Without a true superstar, the Hornets must exhibit superior effort as a team to overcome size and talent issues.
Nic Batum led Charlotte with 24 points and and Kemba Walker had 19 points as the duo tried to keep the Hornets afloat in the first and second halves respectively, but to no avail. Al Jefferson was efficient in scoring his 13 points on just eight shots, but seemed limited by a sore knee. Marvin Williams had a strong regular season, but he was highly ineffective in Sunday’s contest scoring only two points in 26 minutes. First round draft pick Frank Kaminsky was equally inept, failing to score in 18 minutes of floor time. The Hornets will need stronger contributions from their front line if they are to be competitive in the rest of the series.
Even without Chris Bosh, Miami has four current or former All-Stars on their roster with Dwayne Wade, Luol Deng, Joe Johnson, and Amar’e Stoudemire. Hasan Whiteside will surely be an All-Star in the near future, and Goran Dragic is no slouch at the point guard position. The Heat are a very talented team and their balance of veteran leadership and youth makes them extremely dangerous. They are playing their best basketball of the season at the perfect time, and could very well challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
Miami, Atlanta, Boston, and Charlotte all ended the season with a 48-34 regular season record. Tiebreakers decided the playoff seeds, with aforementioned four teams being awarded the third through sixth seeds respectively in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James are the first seed in the Eastern Conference. Toronto is a weak number two seed.  Indiana and Detroit are the seventh and eighth seeds. Miami is at least as talented as Cleveland from top to bottom, if not more talented. Charlotte received a tough draw by having to play such a formidable opponent in the first round.
Still, the Hornets are a better team than they showed on Sunday and hopefully coach Steve Clifford can find a way to motivate his squad for Game 2 on Wednesday night.
