The Hornets travel to Miami to face off against slumping division rival

Hornets: PROBABLE – Tidjane Salaun (R Ankle), QUESTIONABLE – Josh Green (Shoulder), OUT – Grant Williams (R ACL), Brandon Miller (R Wrist), Josh Okogie (L Hamstring), Tre Mann (Disc Herniation)

Heat: QUESTIONABLE – Bam Adebayo (L Knee), OUT – Nikola Jovic (R Hand), Dru Smith (L Achilles)

The Hornets have been playing better basketball of late, particularly when LaMelo Ball is on the court, and that will be the case tonight. The Hornets are 3-2 in their last five games when Ball plays.

Their opponent, the Miami Heat, has been playing their worst basketball in almost two decades. They’ve dropped ten straight games, which is the most for their franchise since 2008. The Hornets were one of their 10 losses in that stretch.

Even though the Heat have lost 10 straight, they still remain in the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference, five games above the Toronto Raptors.

For the Hornets, their last game was of the lopsided variety as they lost by 35 points to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they were also without eight of their key players, including LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams.

In their last game with Williams and Ball, they dominated versus the New York Knicks, holding them under 100 points and winning by 17. When the Hornets are decently healthy, they typically have a fighting chance every night.

Mark Williams has been playing at a high level lately for the Hornets, and in his last game, he tallied 19 points and collected 14 rebounds to go along with his four assists and three blocks. In his last 10 games, he’s averaging 16.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game while also shooting 65% from the field.

A solid, underrated piece for the Hornets recently has been DaQuan Jeffries.

Jeffries has been lackluster across the last month before his recent stretch that started March 12th versus Atlanta, where he scored a career-high 20 points. He’s reached double figures in five of his last six games.

For the Miami Heat, it’s been very noticeable seeing their demise lately, ever since the Jimmy Butler trade. A piece of the trade for Miami was Andrew Wiggins, who has been playing some of the best basketball of his career.

In his 12 appearances with the Miami Heat, he’s averaging 19.3 points per game, which marks the most since his first season with the Warriors in 2019-20.

Miles Bridges predicted to be used as trade bait this offseason by the Hornets

Recent top five pick listed as a potential trade target for the Charlotte Hornets

Hornets roll into Miami fairly healthy; Bam Adebayo listed as questionable for Heat

Brian Windhorst slams LaMelo Ball, admits he’s ‘hated watching him this year’