Charlotte Hornets vs. Miami Heat: Live Score, Analysis for Game 2
The Miami Heat took a 2-0 lead against the Charlotte Hornets in their first-round series Wednesday night with an 115-103 victory. A monster offensive performance in the first half for the Heat (72 points, 74.4 percent from the field) was the key factor.
There were a lot of things in common with Game 1 for Miami's offense in the first half. Three days after dropping 123 points on Charlotte, the Heat simply could not miss from anywhere on the floor and scored on their final 11 possessions before the intermission. The defense by Charlotte, which happened to be decent, didn't seem to matter.
Unlike Game 1, though, the Hornets had some fight in them on the other end Wednesday. Behind 29 points from Kemba Walker and a huge 25 points off the bench from Al Jefferson, Charlotte was able to keep pace for much of the game. Shooting 1-of-16 from three-point range was a killer, though.
Miami got great performances from a host of its players, including Dwyane Wade (28 points, eight assists), Hassan Whiteside (17 points and 13 rebounds on 8-of-8 shooting), as well as Goran Dragic, Luol Deng and Josh Richardson, who finished with 18, 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Game 3 will be in Charlotte on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET. The Hornets will hope for slightly less accurate shooting from Miami and better shot-making from themselves. Keep an eye out for the status of Hornets forward Nicolas Batum, who sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter and did not return, per Charlotte's public relations team.
