Hornets vs. Heat Preview
MIAMI, FL (AP) – When the New Orleans Hornets and the Miami Heat met last month, Chris Paul and Emeka Okafor helped expose a few of Miami’s weaknesses while extending New Orleans’ unbeaten start.
The Heat haven’t displayed many flaws lately.
Miami has won eight straight games by double digits, a string of dominance it’ll look to extend Monday night when it tries to hand the visiting Hornets a ninth loss in 12 games.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Heat -10.5 point spread favorites for Monday’s game against the Hornets. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 88% of more than 5,884 bets for this game have been placed on the Heat -10.5.
Matchups show that New Orleans is 11-10 ATS this season, while Miami is 12-13 ATS.
New Orleans (14-9) was perhaps the league’s biggest surprise early in the season, when it got off to an 11-1 start that included victories over San Antonio, Dallas and Miami (17-8).
The Hornets’ inside-outside combo led the way in a 96-93 win over the Heat on Nov. 5. Paul had a season-high 19 assists and Okafor contributed 26 points and 13 rebounds, helping New Orleans outscore Miami 50-30 in the paint.
Penetrating point guards and rebounding troubles plagued the Heat during a 9-8 start. They allowed 20.8 assists per game and were outrebounded nine times.
Since then, Miami has run off eight consecutive victories, holding the opposition to 17.5 assists and 84.5 points per game – 10.0 fewer than it had given up in its so-so start.
The Heat have won the battle of the boards in all eight wins, including a 57-36 edge in Saturday’s 104-83 rout at Sacramento.
“We have a different mentality both off the floor and on the court as well,” Dwyane Wade said after scoring 36 points – his fifth straight game with at least 25. “… We understood and knew November was a tough month for us. But with that adversity there was a lot of growth going on. It was just about when it was going to click and right now it’s clicking for us.”
The wins during the streak have come by an average of 17.8 points. Miami has a chance to become the first team to win nine straight by double digits since LeBron James’ Cavaliers from Nov. 22-Dec. 9, 2008.
While the Heat have turned into one of the league’s most impressive teams over the last few weeks, New Orleans’ hot start has quickly faded.
The Hornets gave up an average of 90.4 points in their first 12 games, and while that’s grown to 93.4 in their last 11, defense hasn’t been the concern. An offense that’s averaged 89.4 points is.
New Orleans turned in its worst offensive performance of the season Sunday at Philadelphia. It scored 23 points and shot a dreadful 14 percent from the floor in the first half en route to an 88-70 loss.
Aside from Chris Paul, who had 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting, the Hornets missed 51 of 67 shots.
“We’ve said this before – we’ve set a bar for how we want to play, and we’ve done it,” coach Monty Williams said. “The bottom line is, we have to get back to that. It takes some individual pride. It takes some strategy from me. I have to make sure I’m doing my job. But at the end of the day, you have to bring it from the jump.”
New Orleans needs someone other than Paul or David West to step up. In the eight losses during its last 11 games, only once – Trevor Ariza’s 21 points against New York – has someone other than Paul or West scored more than 15.
Want More From TheSpread.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook or Subscribe to Our News Feeds!