Charlotte Hornets vs. Miami Heat Predictions, Picks and Preview – 2016 NBA Playoffs – Eastern Conference First Round Game Two – April 20, 2016

The Charlotte Hornets’ search for the franchise’s first playoff win since 2002 continues. The Hornets were treated by the Miami Heat into a good old beatdown in Game 1 of their first-round series. They will try to notch that elusive playoff win later tonight against a Heat team that established new franchise records in the series opener. Read on for more about this matchup. You can also check out our preview of Pistons vs. Cavs.

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Charlotte Hornets vs. Miami Heat Game 2 Preview

Where: AmericanAirlines Arena

When: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 7:00 PM ET

Line: Charlotte Hornets (+5) vs. Miami Heat (-5); total: 202.5 – view all NBA lines

TV Broadcast: TNT

Betting on the Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets looked totally lost on Sunday, when they were pulverized in a 123-91 loss to Miami in Game 1 of their first-round series. Charlotte barely did anything right, as the Hornets shot just 43.1 percent from the field and committed 11 turnovers.

Even the Hornets’ defense appeared to have taken a day off with Miami registering a 57.6 FG%. Charlotte is a better team than what its Game 1 performance suggests, but head coach Steve Clifford might already be thinking of changes this early in the series.

Clifford could insert Al Jefferson into the starting unit after Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside terrorized the Hornets inside in the series opener. Cody Zeller and Marvin Williams were simply no match for Miami’s big men defensively. They didn’t matter much on offense either, combining for only 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting. Williams was criminally ineffective. He was supposed to stretch Miami’s defense but the only thing he stretched on Sunday was Clifford’s patience to the limit after going 1-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-2 from deep for two points. Jefferson, on the other hand, had 13 points in 23 minutes of action off the bench.

The backcourt duo of Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum sure would like their bigs to get involved more on offense later tonight. Walker scored 19 points in Game 1 while Batum had 24, but that’s pretty much everything for Charlotte. Charlotte shot just 6-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Hornets averaged 10.6 threes per game back in the regular season, however, so expect them to keep throwing up threes.

Charlotte is 3-2-1 ATS in its last six games in Miami.

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Betting on the Miami Heat

The Heat stung harder than the Hornets in Game 1.Everything went Miami’s way on Sunday with the frontcourt tandem of Deng and Whiteside blowing every Hornet that stood their way.

Deng led all scorers with 31 points, while Whiteside put up 21 points and 11 boards in a full display of might inside the paint. The Heat shot 28-of-43 inside for 56 points. The Hornets, on the other hand, got just 36 paint points. There was no one from Charlotte who could stop Deng and Whiteside in Game 1 and it figures to be the case moving forward.

Jefferson is Charlotte’s best big man but it’ his defense remains mediocre. He can score, but his offensive production will be negated by his mediocre defense.

Miami, however, will have to prepare for Charlotte’s shooters. As noted above, Charlotte can really shoot and it might be just a matter of time before the Hornets find their outside stroke. It doesn’t seem though that Miami needs to be reminded how to take away Charlotte’s threes. After all, the Heat finished the regular season with the third-fewest allowed threes per game with 7.4.

Miami marches into Game 2 of this series riding a seven-game win streak at home. The Heat are also 7-0 ATS during that stretch.

Writer’s Prediction

Miami (-5) wins,