Two such different halves (well, really more like 32 minutes and 16 minutes rather than even halves). One where the Heat fell right into the Hornets’ well-executed game plan. One part where the Heat stopped playing along, the Hornets started missing shots and then it was on for Miami.
The 16 trumped the 32 and Miami won its ninth straight game by double digits, 96-84.
The first half, it was the blue print teams are going to use to beat the Heat this season — you’re going to see variations of it until they are eliminated from the playoffs or David Stern hands them a trophy.
New Orleans did a good job of slowing the tempo down, taking away the transition baskets that have fueled the Heat’s run. On offense that means either making your shots or being such a force on the offensive boards that the Heat have to dedicate more resources to it and they can’t just run. The Hornets did both those things.
One of the few times the Heat did run — a baseball outlet pass to Dwyane Wade — Jarrett Jack was there with the hard foul to stop a breakaway dunk. And sorry, that foul did not deserve a technical.
On defense, the Hornets packed the paint and just dared Miami to take the midrange jumper — and the Heat were too happy to settle for that shot for long stretches of the game.
Here’s the problem with beating the Heat — the Hornets did everything they wanted and they were up just one point at the half. Miami has that much talent. Wade kept the Heat in it during the second with 9 straight at one point oh his way to 24 points in the first half.
In the second half the Hornets shooting woes returned — as a team they shot 17.9 percent in the second half and they were 0-7 from three. It looked like a lot of their games from the last few weeks. I’ll grant you that Miami played a little better defense, but the Hornets are fully capable of shooting that poorly unguarded right now.
Not that the Heat didn’t focus on some things defensively — they did a good job on defending Chris Paul in the pick-and-roll. Which is not easy. But bigs showed and recovered and they took away the simple baskets for the Hornets. In the first half the Hornets hit those harder shots, in the second they missed everything.
The Heat focused on the rebounds — there were plenty to get (Chris Bosh led the way with 11) — and that fueled the transition game. LeBron James started taking on more of the offense in the second half (he finished with 20) and pretty soon there was a late third quarter 6-0 Heat run followed closely by a 12-2 run near the start of the fourth. Then it was over.
It was another game where the Heat’s talent wore the opponent down and they eventually got the style of play they wanted. It is the fourth straight game where Chris Bosh, Wade and LeBron combined to score 75 points or more. It was how they should play nightly. For the Hornets, Chris Paul and David West remain a dangerous pairing but if you can force them to go to option number three there really isn’t a good one. Paul is so good, West such a good fit it can work for them, but only can take them so far.