Hornets at Heat
One of the hottest teams in the NBA earlier this month, the Miami Heat are now in a bit of a funk, even against some of the league's lesser opponents. They will try to avoid their first three-game losing streak since October when they wrap up a quick two-game homestand against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
Since winning seven in a row, Miami has slumped to 2-4 over its last six games with losses to sub.-500 squads Chicago and Brooklyn on the road and Sacramento - the last-place team in the Western Conference - at home Thursday night. "This is definitely one of those games that we can learn from," guard Wayne Ellington said after the 89-88 loss to the Kings in which the Heat blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter. "We have to learn and take it as a lesson. I am sure we will watch some film and see the areas that we need to improve and where we didn't do well. We are a better team than what we showed and we have to be able to do that consistently no matter who is out there in front of us." The Heat used a late rally to knock off the Hornets 106-105 in Charlotte last Saturday and they've claimed all three meetings this season. Charlotte finished a 3-2 homestand with a 121-110 win over Atlanta on Friday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Charlotte), FS Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (20-27): Kemba Walker scored 29 points while making 5-of-10 3-pointers in Friday's victory and he has attempted at least eight from beyond the arc in five straight games. Dwight Howard had 18 points and 15 rebounds for his seventh straight double-double while recording a season-high seven blocked shots two games after he swatted six. "I told him in the locker room, his basket protection was unbelievable," coach Steve Clifford said of Howard, who needs four more blocks to become the 19th player in NBA history with 2,000. "There were, I mean, four or five phenomenal basketball plays. Phenomenal. Just phenomenal stuff. It was unbelievable."
ABOUT THE HEAT (27-21): Goran Dragic scored 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting in the loss to the Kings while his teammates combined to shoot 33.8 percent from the field and nobody seemed to want to step up when the game was on the line. "We've been terrific in the last six weeks in our fourth-quarter execution," coach Erik Spoelstra told the media. "We've had a couple of games now where it's been erratic. The turnovers allowed them to get some breathing room to get some confidence to crawl closer. We had some opportunities with catches in the paint that weren't strong enough to finish or draw fouls, and then, execution of details, of screening and getting the ball where it needed to go." Tyler Johnson (ankle) has missed five games in a row and is questionable for this one.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hornets are 1-9 on the road against Eastern Conference opponents.
2. Howard has at least 15 rebounds in seven straight games and Heat C Hassan Whiteside has at least 13 in five straight.
3. Dragic is 5-for-22 from the field and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc in two games against the Hornets this season.