Hornets at Heat
The Miami Heat are trying to climb the standings in the Eastern Conference and get a three-game homestand against sub-.500 competition to help them toward that goal. The Heat, who own a 27-4 home record, begin that stretch by hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
Miami is trying to overtake the Boston Celtics for the No. 3 spot while holding off the Indiana Pacers charging from behind and is hoping All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler will be ready for Wednesday. "Little bit of rest and we will see where we are at come tomorrow," Butler, who left 100-89 victory at Washington on Sunday with a foot injury, told reporters after the game. "Couple days to get this thing right and get back to hooping." The Hornets lost four of their last five games and are coming off a 143-138 double-overtime setback at Atlanta on Monday that featured a career-high 40 points from point guard Terry Rozier. "They're resilient, they're tough," Charlotte coach James Borrego told reporters of his team. "They kept competing, kept fighting. That's all you can ask of your team. Heck-of-an-effort by the entire group. They're growing, they're getting better. It's exciting. There's a lot of bright spots here. I'm proud of that group. We fought, we battled, we'll learn from it and get better."
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, FS Sun, TSN5
ABOUT THE HORNETS (22-42): Rozier went 15-of-26 from the floor, including 8-of-13 from beyond the arc, but missed out on a chance to win it in regulation when a coach's challenge with 0.8 seconds remaining took him off the free-throw line. "I've got to watch what I say a little bit," Rozier told reporters. "Obviously, I don’t agree with it. I thought I was going to be shooting two free throws. Hey, they made a call. They reviewed it. I didn't review it. So, it is what it is." Rozier is 19-of-31 from 3-point range over the last three games and is averaging 21 points in that span.
ABOUT THE HEAT (41-23): All-Star center Bam Adebayo was held to nine points in a 110-104 loss at New Orleans on Friday but bounced back with 27 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in the win over the Wizards on Sunday. Miami was without a ball handler down the stretch with Butler sidelined and Goran Dragic in foul trouble, so coach Erik Spoelstra elected to run the offense through Adebayo. "We tried to simplify and throw it to him at the elbow and play offense through him," Spoelstra told reporters. "He was very poised. It gave us a similar type of confidence when we have the ball in Jimmy's or Goran's hands, just in a different way. He made every right play going down the stretch."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Heat F Jae Crowder (concussion) sat out Sunday but is confident that he can return Wednesday.
2. Hornets F PJ Washington was held to two points on 1-of-6 shooting Monday after averaging 20.3 points in the previous three contests.
3. Miami earned a 117-100 home win in the most recent meeting on Nov. 25 and the Southeast Division rivals will play twice more over the final few weeks - March 30 and April 13 at Charlotte.