The Miami Heat will open up the home slate of the schedule with the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.
After an impressive win to start the season, the Miami Heat will look to improve to 2-0 with a victory in their home opener over the Charlotte Hornets. For the first time since 2003, the Heat will have their home opener without Dwyane Wade on their roster.
This will be a tough pill for the fans in South Beach, but that sorrow could turn to joy pretty quickly if the Heat can replicate their success from Wednesday night’s solid win over the Orlando Magic.
Miami will host the Charlotte Hornets Friday just a few months after a grueling seven game series, which ended with the Heat advancing. Unfortunately, the Heat roster is lacking a few key names that played significant rolls in that series.
The Hornets roster is relatively unchanged, and for good reason. Charlotte has proven to be a young and talented team with cause for optimism. Nicolas Batum, Kemba Walker, and Jeremy Lamb are all under the age of 28 and coming off career years. The Heat will look to fight back with their own crew of young up-and-comers. Josh Richardson is still out with an MCL injury, but the Heat still has Justise Winslow, Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson.
Matchup to Watch: Kemba Walker vs. Goran Dragic
Arguably the best players on each team, Dragic and Walker should be the most exciting matchup. Both players are also in charge of controlling the pace of the game, which could result in a high-scoring up-tempo battle.
Without Wade dominating the ball and no Bosh clogging the paint, Dragic is in prime position to have a monster season. The last time Dragic was the focal point of an offense was 2013 where he averaged 20.3 points and 5.9 assists per contest with the Phoenix Suns.
Walker is coming off easily the best season of his career, averaging 20.9 points per game while shooting 37.1 percent on three point attempts; both of which were career bests.
X-Factor: Dion Waiters
If the Heat want to be serious playoff contenders this year, they’ll need Dion Waiters to make a consistent impact on the offensive end. Waiters had a mediocre performance in the team’s season opener, ending with 9 points on 13 shots. Woof.
The story line for Waiters has been the same his entire career; the talent and athleticism is there, but he’s never proven himself to be an efficient and consistent contributor
Injury Report:
For Miami, Josh Richardson and Wayne Ellington are listed as out. Josh McRoberts is available for the first time since training camp.
Brian Roberts is out for the Hornets.
Game Info:
When: 8 PM ET
Where: Miami
Watch: Fox Sports Sun