Charlotte Hornets: We’re Back!
The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat 89-85 to even the series in Game 4.
The Charlotte Hornets were left for dead not all that long ago. They were down 2-0 to a hot shooting Miami Heat team. Those first two games were not close. To add injury to insult Hornets distributor Nicolas Batum hurt his ankle and still is not back yet.
Good adjustments gained the Hornets their first victory back from the road. Frank Kaminsky caused problems in the paint while the Hornets guards found their shooting touches once again. That carried the Hornets for Game 3, but now it was Miami’s turn to adjust and Charlotte badly needed a Game 4 win in this competitive series.
Enter Kemba Walker. Walker had been denied big games in the first three outings as the Heat were committed to shutting him down with Luol Deng as his matchup. Game 3 saw Walker finally start to understand how the Heat were defending him and Game 4 took that one step further.
Walker gave a great leading man performance in the fourth installment and his thirty-four points were big in having the Hornets run out to an eighteen point lead only to see it slowly dissolve to one in the fourth quarter. The Hornets would fight off this final effort by the Heat to score some big free throws and seal the game 89-85.
Walker could not have won the game alone and he got a big assist from Jeremy Lin. Lin scored twenty-one points of his own including a bank three from the side over his Heat defender. Courtney Lee was the only other Hornet in double figures with eleven.
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The Heat comeback took everything the franchise could throw on the court. It saw some big shots from new member Joe Johnson, key scores from Hassan Whiteside, and some effort plays by the injured Udonis Haslem. Haslem had not seen action all series but he was the floor for a crucial stretch of minutes.
Luol Deng contributed fifteen points for the Heat and his production has slowed down from Game 1 to now. Hopefully that is a trend that will continue.
The Hornets need to maintain their hustle as they return to Miami for Game 5. That is something that can slip from you when the roar of the crowd is going against you and not for you. Creating turnovers is another aspect the Hornets controlled in Game 4 and need to take with them to Game 5.
The hope too is that the Miami Heat’s shooting streak at home has calmed down now. The Heat began this series by punching the Hornets in the face, and now the Hornets have come staggering back even without Batum. A return of the hot shooting of Games 1 and 2 would be bad for the Hornets and their hope to win the series, something they cannot do without a win in Miami.
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As for Batum, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. He was scratched from Game 4 with Coach Steve Clifford describing the foot as weak. There is still almost two days for this to change, but the Hornets are best off trying to get their gameplan together without the Frenchman.
That gameplan is going to be something too. The Heat have seen the post look and they have seen the big Kemba game, so something has to happen that they have not seen. That could be a big Al Jefferson performance or perhaps a surprise bench contributor. Neither Jeremy Lamb nor Troy Daniels played in Game 4.
Next: Important for Hornets to Hold Home Court
Game 5 is tomorrow night with a possible turning point in the series at stake.