The Miami Heat seemed out of answers as the Charlotte Hornets tie the series 2-2.
We have a tied series, folks.
The Miami Heat fell to the Charlotte Hornets Monday, dropping both Games 3 and 4 on the road after winning the two opening games in Miami. Now the series heads back to Florida for Game 5 on Wednesday.
The Heat led 26-19 after the first quarter, but the Hornets went on a 36-8 run between quarters two and three to take as much as an 18-point lead. However, the Heat battled back using a 17-1 run to close the gap in the final minutes.
The Heat came within one points with six minutes left, but Kemba Walker scored 11 points in the next three minutes to extend Charlotte’s lead and earn them the win.
With both teams protecting home court, the series heads back to Miami for Game 5. Walker led the Hornets with 34 points while Jeremy Lin scored 21 on six-of-10 shots. For the Heat, Joe Johnson was the leading scorer with 16 points.
Here are more notes from the game:
1. Whiteside stifled again
The Charlotte Hornets adjusted its defense of Hassan Whiteside in Game 3 and stuck with the strategy in Game 4. They doubled Whiteside early, bringing help off the week side before Whiteside even got the ball. By packing the paint, the Hornets constricted Whiteside’s range of motion as he ducked to the rim, grounding his game with little-to-no airspace for alley-oops and dunks.
The Heat didn’t make an adjustment from Game 3 to 4. Instead, they hoped that they would shoot better than they did. They didn’t, shooting just 39 percent from the field. It’s a wild regression to the mean after shooting lights out at home in Games 1 and 2.
Whiteside was a game time decision with a thigh bruise, which could have limited his usual bounciness. The Heat need to find a way to get prime Whiteside back for Wednesday.
2. Kemba Walker vs Josh Richardson
Kemba Walker is a bad man, and the Heat tried a variety of things to defend him. Erik Spoelstra started with Goran Dragic on him, but that quickly proved not to work with Walker feeling it tonight. He tried Luol Deng for a minute before eventually settling on Josh Richardson to close the game.
Richardson finished the game over Dragic because of his defense. After that three minute spurt in the final period, Richardson played dogged defense in the final three minutes to hold Walker scoreless and give the Heat a chance.
Spoelstra may have found something sustainable with the Richardson on Walker matchup, and could go to it earlier in the future.
3. Turnovers
The Hornets don’t turn the ball over much, and the Heat are relying too much on a rare thing. The Hornets turned the ball over nine times to Miami’s 17, and played great transition defense to prevent the Heat from scoring any fast break points. ZERO FASTBREAK POINTS.
0 fastbreak points for #Heat tonight.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) April 26, 2016
If Charlotte is able to keep taking away Whiteside and Miami’s shooters stay cold, that doesn’t leave much wiggle room for the Heat to create points.
Next: Will Tyler Johnson return for the playoffs?
4. Adjustments
Something has to give. Steve Clifford adjusted by inserting Al Jefferson and Frank Kaminsky into the starting lineup. Both are big, skilled guys near the rim, but struggle defensively. The Heat need to find a way to take advantage of that.
Maybe it’s by spacing out the floor with even smaller lineups with Josh McRoberts at center, or more high pick-and-rolls with Luol Deng as the screen man.
Whatever it is, Spoelstra has a couple of days to figure it out before the series heads back to Miami.