Heat vs Hornets preview: Injury report, key matchup & how to watch

One night after nearly completing a miraculous comeback against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami Heat will travel to Charlotte to face the Hornets on the second night of a back-to-back set. Fortunately for the Heat, the Hornets might be in worse shape than they are.

Injury report

The Heat will be without Kevin Love, who left Tuesday night’s game with back spasms and has been ruled out for Wednesday night.

Haywood Highsmith (dislocated right finger), Nikola Jovic (nasal fracture) and Terry Rozier (right foot) are available.

For the Hornets, they’ll be without at least five key rotation players. Miles Bridges is out with a knee injury, sixth man Tre Mann is out with a lower back injury, forward Grant Williams was recently ruled out for the season with a torn ACL and centers Mark Williams (left foot) and Nick Richardson (rib fracture) have also been ruled out for Wednesday night.

LaMelo Ball is probable with right wrist soreness.

Projected lineups

The Heat have started Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Highsmith and Bam Adebayo in each of the last three games. Terry Rozier came off the bench for the first time this season on Tuesday night.

With all of their injuries, the Hornest started Ball, Josh Green, Brandon Miller, rookie Tidkane Salaun and 16-yera veteran Taj Gibson in Monday’s loss to the Orlando Magic.

Key matchup

After giving up 37 points to Damian Lillard, the Heat need to find a way to limit Ball. 

Ball is second in the league in scoring, averaging 31 points per game -- including 43 (!) over his last three games.

The Heat will likely start with Highsmith as his primary defender and be aggressive when showing on pick-and-rolls (an adjustment they made in the second half of the Bucks game).

How to watch

FanDuel Sports Network and NBA League Pass.