The Miami Heat win in a close game at home, 94-93. Luol Deng led the way with 26 points on 10-of-14 from the field to go along with eight rebounds and three assists. He stepped up big tonight without Dwyane Wade in the lineup. This was Wade's fifth straight game out with a hamstring injury.
Chris Bosh finished with 20 points on 8-of-21 from the field with 2 threes and eight rebounds, including what would be the game-winning jumper with 31 seconds on the clock. Mario Chalmers had 20 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 9-of-10 from the costless throw line to go along with 10 assists. Mario Chalmers has really stepped up his game while Wade has been out.
Shabazz Napier added a spark off the bench with 14 points on 4-of-9 from the field with 4 three pointers to go along with three assists in 34 minutes. The Heat had other players who stepped up without Wade in the lineup tonight to help the team win this game. The Heat shot very well tonight. They hit 50 percent of their shots from the field and 47.8 percent from three, making 11 out of 23 attempts. They did only take 66 shot attempts compared to Hornets' 79 shot attempts. The Heat got outscored 40 to 26 in paint, as they were not able to handle Al Jefferson. The Miami Heat are off to an 8-6 start. They need Wade to get healthy for them to have a better seeding in the Eastern Conference.
For the Hornets, Al Jefferson led the way with 22 points on 9-of-17 from the field and had 12 rebounds. Lance Stephenson had a much better game for Charlotte with 17 points on 7-of-14 from the field but only 1-of-6 from three. Lance Stephenson has struggled to score so far this season and is one of the reasons why the Hornets are struggling overall as a team.
Kemba Walker had 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Kemba Walker has also not scored as much this year like he did last year. Gary Neal played well off the bench with 13 points. Cody Zeller also played well off the bench with 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field and three assists.
The Hornets shot 46.8 percent from the field but were held to only 93 points. "The stretch of games we've played has definitely taken their toll on our confidence," said Charlotte's head coach Steve Clifford. The Hornets had a chance to win the game when they had the ball down one with 14 seconds left. Walker went at Napier, two great, former players at UCONN as both contributed a championship there in 2011 for Walker and 2014 for Napier, and Walker missed the jumper, then Jefferson got a good try to tip it in but missed as time expired.
The Hornets are off to an extremely slow start so far. They are now 4-10 on the season. They made the playoffs last year and had a 44-38 record in the regular season. They did add Lance Stephenson to their team this season, but he has yet to fit in with his new team and hasn't played like he did with the Pacers.