After a difficult loss on Friday night, the Charlotte Hornets were back in action on Saturday against the Miamia Heat.
Miami would also be coming to town on a back-to-back, falling to the Detroit Pistons the night earlier. Despite new superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo donning the Heat red and white jerseys after a decade with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat were 0-2 headed into their matchup with the Hornets.
For the Hornets, they were able to make-up for their disappointing Friday night loss, taking down the Heat 115-110 despite a late-comeback from the Heat. They move to 2-1 on the young season, while the Heat with their new superstar fall to 0-3.
Turnovers
After two straight 20+ turnover games to start the season, the Hornets recorded just 15 turnovers in the victory over Miami. While it turned into 23 points for the Heat, it was a much cleaner number than the previous two games.
Charles Lee emphasized in preseason that the Hornets need to work on turning the ball over less, which looked much improved tonight. With several players on the roster who are at the top of the league in not turning the ball over, the numbers should fall in the Hornets favor soon.
Brandon Miller
Brandon Miller had a disappointing start to his fourth season.
After signing a $209 million deal on Monday, Miller 6 points, shooting 2/14 from the field and was a -37 in the loss to the Hawks on Friday. It came after a 1 point, 0/7 second-half during his first start of the season, leaving disappointment from fans in the young season.
Miller looked worth that contract on Saturday. He finished the match with 34 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and hit three 3-pointers. While he did not shoot the ball incredibly efficiently, Miller looked like the player the Hornets gave a $200 million contract, which was exciting.
Naz Reid
Two words. You know them.
While he's not LaMelo Ball, Naz Reid has been an excellent player for the Hornets this season. He recorded 23 points on Saturday, hauling in 9 rebounds, and shooting 5/8 from deep. Reid has impressed in his first three games as a Hornet, especially in his role next to Moussa Diabaté at the four.
In his first three games as a Hornet, Naz has averaged 20 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and has a 58.3% true-shooting number. He's been an extremely important part of the Hornets two victories to start the season, and they will be reliant on him as the season progressses.
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