On Monday night, the Miami Heat hosted the Charlotte Hornets in NBA preseason action. The Heat were able to receive key contributions from several top players including Hassan Whiteside, Josh Richardson, and Kelly Olynyk to achieve a 109-106 victory. Here's the latest Hornets vs. Heat game recap with top players, stats, and what's up next for each of these two teams.
NBA game recap
The Miami Heat jumped out to a 36-29 advantage after the first quarter tonight, but Charlotte battled back. In the second, the Hornets outscored Miami 33-18, making it a 62-54 lead at halftime for the visitors. In the third, Miami went on a 31-27 pace and then finished the fourth outscoring Charlotte 24-17 to grab the win.
Leading the way for the Miami Heat tonight were two players with 18 points each, and another two who each recorded double-doubles. Both Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson scored 18 for the game tonight. Meanwhile, Hassan Whiteside had 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Kelly Olynyk had 13 points and 12 boards to go with four assists.
Dion Waiters scored 14 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed four rebounds in the win.
For the Charlotte Hornets, four of their five starters scored in double digits tonight. Dwight Howard led all starters with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting while also getting six rebounds and four steals. Marvin Williams had 12 points, while Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb each finished with 11 apiece. Rookie Malik Monk came off the bench to score 19 points on 7-for-22 shooting. Fellow rookie Dwayne Bacon had 12 points on 6-for-17 shooting.
The Miami Heat shot 49.4 percent for the game while the Hornets hit their shots at a rate of 45.1 percent. However, Miami hit three-point shots at a rate of 39.3 percent compared to 19.2 percent.
The Heat were able to win the rebounding battle 49-43 and won tonight's game despite having 20 turnovers compared to just 14 for Charlotte.
What's up next?
The Charlotte Hornets drop to 1-2 for their NBA preseason so far. Charlotte still seems like a team that will be in the mix for the Eastern Conference playoffs based on their talented roster. Next up, the Hornets will host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, October 11th beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN.
With tonight's victory, the Miami Heat are now 2-2 overall and 2-0 at home in the preseason. They'll be looking to contend in the Eastern Conference as well. For their next preseason game, the Heat will host the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM Eastern Time.