Hornets drop preseason home-opener to Miami Heat 108-94

On Wednesday night the Hornets dropped their first home preseason game to the Miami Heat. The 108-94 loss to the Heat was in stark contrast to the narrow loss to the Celtics that saw more balanced scoring and better defensive prowess.

And the injury bug still nipping at this thin roster, saw rookie Cody Martin out of the lineup due to a right ankle sprain since recording two points and two steals at Boston in the team's first preseason game.

In the last meeting between the Heat and Hornets, Charlotte scored just 75 points in the loss to their Southeast Division opponent. Jeremy Lamb led the Hornets with 21 points and four rebounds off the bench. Goran Dragic led Miami with 19 points while Dwyane Wade poured in 17. But with several of their top players including Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler and Justise Winslow out of the lineup, the Heat appeared to be somewhat containable. But the story ended up going in a similar direction as the previous meeting between the two teams.

In a game the had myriad offensive miscues for the Hornets developing roster because of the lack of ball movement and poor spacing, the 8-36 (22.2%) 3PT shooting compared to Miami's 15-37 (40.5%) only added to the lack-luster performance. A bright sport for Charlotte, however, was Terry Rozier's 18 points as he continues to get settled in with running the offense effectively. While there were six Hornets players that scored in double figures, the defensive efforts lacked the grit and energy the team has hung its hat on in the past.

Head coach James Borrego is not ready to sound the alarm just yet. "What I don't want to do is overreact," Borrego said.

The Hornet face Ben Simmons and the Sixers on Friday Oct. 11 in Winstin-Salem, NC at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.