
Game Thread: Charlotte Hornets @ Miami Heat (Game 5)
Apr 27 2016 10:18 AM |
joe
in Miami Heat

Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat
Wednesday, April 27, 2016, 8:00pm ET
AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, FL
Referees #9 Derrick Stafford | #35 Kane Fitzgerald | #23 Jason Philllips | #16 David Guthrie (alternate)
Matchups
Goran Dragic vs Kemba Walker | BB-R Comparison | PointAfter Comparison
Dwyane Wade vs Nicolas Batum(?) + Courtney Lee | BB-R Comparison | PointAfter Comparison
Hassan Whiteside vs Cody Zeller + Al Jefferson | BB-R Comparison | PointAfter Comparison
Teams Profiles
Hornets Roster | Stats | Power Rankings | Shot Chart | Depth Chart
Heat Roster | Stats | Power Rankings | Shot Chart | Depth Chart
Gameday Links
NBA: Hornets-Heat preview
Gaston Gazette: Gastonia's Hassan Whiteside a difference-maker while splitting loyalties for local basketball fans
Charlotte Observer:
-- Gameday: at Miami Heat
-- Hornets thriving with shift to old-school offense
-- How 2 Kemba Walker fans became Kemba Walker's friends
At The Hive:
-- Another 42 minutes of Courtney Lee pushes the series to 2-2
-- Hornets look to take a 3-2 series lead in Miami
-- Five Game 5 matches: Real and imagined
-- Steve Clifford finishes fourth in COY voting
-- Hive Talk Live: Hornets hustle beats Miami muscle
Swarm & Sting:
-- Whiteside frustrated by Hornets' flopping
-- Clifford finishes fourth in COY voting
Old North Banter:
-- We're back!
-- Hornets even the series
Hoops Habit: Hassan Whiteside: Foul body language. Foul mood. Foul game.
Hornets:
-- Buzz Words: Batum back on practice court prior to Game 5
-- Kemba Walker Blog: Looking to steal one in Miami
Hot Hot Hoops: Game 5 preview: Heat must defend home court
All U Can Heat:
-- 5 things to watch for in Game 5
-- Podcast: What can the Heat do differently?
-- Chris Bosh puts up shots on Snapchat
Heat Nation: NBA reveals Last Two Minute Report from Game 4
Miami Herald:
-- Heat in a foul mood containing Hornets' guards
-- Spoelstra: Heat must adjust in Game 5
-- Heat can't get sidetracked even as series has gone sideways
Miami Sun Sentinel:
-- Heat are in no position to panic
-- Have Heat allowed intangibles to overwhelm them?
-- Five revealing numbers of Heat-Hornets series
-- Preview: Hornets at Heat
Palm Beach Post:
-- Heat hope warm weather heats up their offense
-- Foul disparity, defensive slides hurting Miami Heat
-- Tyler Johnson back after Game 5?
Today's Fastbreak:
-- Steve Cliffords' Hornets are the Eastern Conference grit n' grind
-- Heat Hornets 2-2: We have ourselves a series
-- How Frank Kaminsky went from goat to hero
Latest Tweets
Hornets | Hornets PR | Rick Bonnell | Chris Kroeger | James Plowright | Hoops Hype Charlotte
Heat | Ira Winderman | Ethan Skolnick | Manny Navarro | Jason Jackson | Hoops Hype Miami
Round 1 Series tied 2-2
Game 1: Charlotte 91, Miami 123
Game 2: Charlotte 103, Miami 115
Game 3: Miami 80, Charlotte 96
Game 4: Miami 85, Charlotte 89
April 25, 2016 at Time Warner Cable Arena – The Hornets evened the series 2-2 vs. Miami, winning back-to-back playoff games for the first time since the team beat the Orlando Magic on 4/27/02 and 4/30/02. Charlotte outscored Miami 29-13 in the second quarter, holding them to a series low for points in a quarter (previously, 14 vs. MIA on 4/20, Q3). Kemba Walker finished with a playoff career-high 34 points and became the first player to score 30 points for Charlotte in a playoff game since Baron Davis did so on 4/27/02 at ORL. Walker reeled off the last 11 of the team’s 13 final points to seal the victory. Jeremy Lin posted 21 points off the bench connecting on a playoff career-high eight free throws. He finished the game with a +/- of +17. Joe Johnson had a team-high 16 points on 4-of-5 three-point field goals for Miami. -- Game Notes
Odds and Predictions
Vegas: Hornets open as 6 point underdog
FiveThirtyEight: Charlotte with a 36% pre-game win probability
Covers: Matchup: Miami at Charlotte
Sports Chat Place: Pick, odds and prediction
The Spread: Miami at Charlotte advanced matchup report
Game Chat HornetsPlanet Chatroom
Broadcast TV: TNT | RADIO: WFNZ 610 AM | Hornets Mobile App
Cheers
Honey Bees home | tweets
Heat Dancers home | tweets
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114 Comments
Haven't heard if Nic will be available. Either way I'd stick with the same starters and have Nic come off the bench tonight for strategic reasons. Charlotte has been exploiting situations Miami chooses to surrender, not some unsolvable 5-man lineup Clifford has put together. I don't see the advantages/disadvantages changing in game 5 unless Spoelstra alters their defensive approach or playing groups.
- Goal should be playing Miami's starters to a draw. That hasn't happened all series no matter who starts.
- Get Whiteside in early foul trouble. He's far less active defensively with 2 early fouls even when he returns.
- Continue exploiting their bench with de facto 1's. Sand-bagging Nic could be a huge advantage ending Q1/Q2
- Keep turnovers low. Miami's "pace" depends on changing ends quickly for easy shots and forcing cross-matches to hide liabilities.
- Personally, I'd like to see more Hawes: Lin, Courtney, Nic, Cody, and Hawes in Q2. Marvin if Nic can't play.
- All that said, probably hinges on Miami making shots and Kemba/Lin attacking unless Miami alters their D.
Buckets it looks like Batum is playing and asked to come off of the bench tonight. Team player.
I like your 2Q lineup. Have Courtney and Batum bring the ball up some so they don't blitz Lin and then he can attack from the wing.
i would also add to buckets list (haha) to not allow whiteside to dunk the ball, particularly on lobs. it completely feeds him emotionally. if you take it away, he loses his will to play both offensively and defensively.
i want to see a kemba/batum/marv/frank/al or cody lineup if batum is feeling well enough to run with wade. i think it is the trump card lineup.
Judging by their manly quotes Whiteside and Wade watch too many 1980's action movies. I get it - we won't doubt your legendary resolve.
In game 3 the Hornets exploited this twin tower vs. small ball mismatch by going to Cody in the post. In game 4 Hawes was defended by Winslow in this situation, but we did not really feed Hawes in the post. Anybody think we ought to try that if Hawes is defended by a small guy again? Or is Hawes just a little too awkward for that kind of offensive showcasing?
http://fivethirtyeig...kes-and-misses/
If needed with an expiring shot clock after primarily looking for the baseline cut or kickout from the high post. Otherwise, Hawes in the post eliminates the purpose of creating space for Cody and Lin. He's intriguing though since he's the only C when surrounded by shooters who could force Miami into adjusting
I love the idea of bringing Nic off the bench. That's holy crap fun to contemplate. I do hope that Frank can remain solid on defense, and I like the idea of giving Spencer some burn with Cody if we're going to play Frank along with Al. And I don't want Marvin to have to guard Deng, would rather see him on JJ exclusively.
But most critical to our success, wear Purple jerseys! I am
Ziggy is there a way to temporarily block new user accounts created today from using the forum/chat? Feels like we've had 2-3 trolls lately.
Just the threat of Nic will force them to spend time on it.
Meanwhile Tyler Johnson ruled out for tonight, targeting game 6
I feel like we have the upper hand here. We've proven we can beat them with either the three point barrage during the season, and now a second way with an attack the rim approach. Miami's proven they can only beat us if the whole team takes their Curry supplements for a complete anomaly of incredible shooting. That they've actually done it twice makes it seem incredibly unlikely that they could shoot like that again.
I feel confident in us heading out of there with a victory.
At practice today Clifford had a baffled look when being told "Heat players are talking about the officiating" and being informed of Whiteside's "flop-offs" comment. "We don't have any floppers on our team," he said. He said "there's no comparison" when talking about the historical amount of flopping of the players on the two rosters. He said there's nothing in the tapes or NBA reports to support Whiteside's comments.
Sorry that I don't know how to do a direct link. Scroll down and under "VIDEOS" with the plain black font click on the image of Cliff with the red seats behind him.
http://www.nba.com/hornets/
http://www.nba.com/v...-cha-play9.nba/
Here is the only flop video I can find from this series. Just watch how Deng flops around the court trying to find Kemba.
Here's the direct video for anyone having troubles opening Ashevillelin's link
I really think Clifford's motivation had more to do with Wade's veiled threat about lane contact.
As for flopping, Wade flopped at minimum 3 if not 4 times last game. If you see a 4 on 5 in all likelihood Wade fell down trying to sell a call (or grabbing his face, whatever) with the bonus being lazy in transition. Hurts his own team more often than not.
Like this play - if anyone touched him it was Winslow. There's nothing natural about launching backwards while safely folding into the deadbug position, arms flailing skyward.
I'm sure you noticed in game 3, it was Winslow defending Zeller for that stretch and we quickly exploited it. Wise move of them to put their small 4 Winslow on Hawes in game 4 when the similar situation arose.
"Tyler, go in there and hack the hell out of them 6 times as quickly as possible."
"Tyler, go in there and hack the hell out of them 6 times as quickly as possible."
that would be a dumb move. they are already having issues with the hornets getting to the line. i would welcome them in forcing the refs to set the tone.
what Chef said. Miami can't afford their 2 best players racking up fouls in a closely called game.