NBA Matchups: April 14

MIA @ CHA | POR @ PHX

Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets

Team Totals: Heat 112, Hornets 117.5

Injury Report: Pelle Larsson (Q, leg)

Heat projected starters: Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo (Note: Could see Kel’El Ware starting over Pelle)

Hornets projected starters: LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabate

Offensive Ranks: Heat 12th (11th halfcourt), Hornets fifth (12th halfcourt)

Defensive Ranks: Heat 13th (13th halfcourt), Hornets 11th (18th halfcourt)

Season Series: 3-1 Heat

Noteworthy Missed Games: Bam Adebayo (2 missed), Tyler Herro (2), Andrew Wiggins (2), Norman Powell (2), LaMelo Ball (1), Brandon Miller (2)

Spo quotes: Said it was unusual on Sunday with the motivation, said the play-in is “nuts” and the team has to embrace the challenge, said you can see Norm is fatigued still, said they have a pretty good idea of what their rotation is going to be, said Ware’s 3-point growth is the most consistent part of improvement this year, said Norm looked much better on Sunday.

Lee quotes: Said they came out with something to play for and came through on Sunday, said the most rewarding thing was watching the guys grow, said the Heat have a different offensive style and they have to be able to guard the ball, said they have to be ready for all the zone the Heat will run.

Team stats and notes:

*Miami has generally matched up well with the Hornets, and it has a lot to do with Erik Spoelstra. The zone has given the Hornets some problems, and Miami’s PNR defense has usually been awesome. However, this year, the Heat have been much worse with their PNR defense, and Miami playing with more pace could also work to Charlotte’s advantage. The Hornets’ offense has been on fire for a while as a top-three unit over the last one- and two-month samples. The Hornets are also a heavy 3-point volume team, ranking second in the NBA, while the Heat are 19th in 3-point frequency allowed. I wouldn’t sweat Miami’s defense too much in this spot. For Miami’s offense, they’re still hanging their hats on transition offense to lead the NBA by far in transition possessions per game. The Hornets have an above-average transition defense, and a big reason why is that they aren’t getting killed off turnovers anymore. They still do turn it over at sixth most in the league, but they just don’t get killed off those this season. One big factor for this one will be rebounding, and that could be a factor in Spo’s decision to possibly start Kel’El Ware. The Hornets finished the season as the league’s best team at limiting ORB%, while the Heat were just 13th.

Player stats and notes: