Defense comes through
Some games (especially 1 PM starts in Miami, or so it seems), points are just harder to come by for both teams. This was one of those games, but the Miami Heat made it even harder on the Hornets.
While the Hornets are a team that plays some zone themselves, the Heat’s zone and swarming defense repeatedly caught them off guard and the Hornets were unable to consistently attack seams in their zone.
The Hornets turned it over just 12 times, but they were held to a dreadful shooting percentage of just 31.3 percent and hit only 7 of their 36 3-point attempts, good for just a 19.4 percent clip.
After the woeful 3-point defensive efforts of a week ago against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, the Heat have turned it around in a big way this week against both the Hornets and the Detroit Pistons. The Heat held the two teams to a combined 149 points and 15 of 72 from 3-point range over those games.
Neither the Pistons or the Hornets should be considered offensive juggernauts by any means, but holding two separate NBA opponents to 20.8 percent from long range is worth noting.