Injury-hit Heat fall to Hornets in pre-season play
With LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sitting this one out, it was an opportunity for Chris Bosh to shine for the Miami Heat. And while he did play well, it wasn’t enough to get the win.
Bosh finished with 24 points and five rebounds in a 90-76 pre-season loss to the New Orleans Hornets last night in New Orleans. Marco Belinelli scored a team-high 19 points for the Hornets
(1-2). The Italian guard, who also notched four rebounds and four assists, scored nine of his points in the final quarter.
"It was a situation where our bench could have folded tonight," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "Marco went back in there and did some good things."
After falling behind 45-29 after two quarters, Bosh led the Heat on a furious rally, scoring 20 of his 24 points in the third quarter.
"I like how we established Chris on the low post," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Chris is a multiyear All-Star that has Olympic experience and is a very unselfish player."
When Mike Miller hit a three-pointer late in the third, it put the Heat up 63-61. After going up 70-65, the Hornets went on an impressive 21-2 run to put the game away.
Emeka Okafor notched 15 points and seven rebounds while Jason Smith scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Willie Green scored all of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Mike Miller scored 11 points for the Heat while James Jones chipped in with 15.
Last night’s game marked the first career win for Williams, the new Hornets coach. All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who had seven points and seven assists, knows the importance of that
first victory.
"It's always good to get a win. You've got to see what it feels like," Paul said. "It does no good if you go into a regular season and don't even know what it's like to win a game or have
to hold on in the end."
Injuries have been an issue for the Heat so far in the pre-season. Although James said it was always the team’s plan for him to sit out last night, he left Tuesday’s game against CSKA
Moscow in the third quarter due to cramps. Wade injured his right hamstring during the first three minutes of the Heat’s first pre-season game on Tuesday 5 October but is expected to be back in time for their regular-season opener on Tuesday 26 October.
Bosh is looking forward to getting his All-Star teammates back as soon as possible. And he doesn’t envision any chemistry issues.
"Once those guys come back it's just going to be business as usual in my opinion," Bosh said. "We all know how to play basketball. Dwyane, he's been here for seven years so it's pretty
much the same plays that they've been running for a long time. He's going to know where to get his shots, where to be on defense. And LeBron, he's a pretty smart basketball player."
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