By the time it was all said and done, the Heat cruised to a convincing 123-91 victory to take a 1-0 series lead and set a franchise record for points scored in postseason contest.
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Even veteran center Amar’e Stoudemire, working in his first playoff game with the Heat and 70th postseason game overall, added 11 points in 16 minutes off the bench.
“I mean, I haven’t been in the playoffs for two years but the excitment, the atmosphere was great”.
Miami got easy buckets inside whenever it wanted, leaving Charlotte to spend most of the game trying and failing to mount a comeback. This is why I say Whiteside is the X-factor this series because when’s he’s going it takes the Heat to the next level. Hassan Whiteside scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. We’re in the playoffs. But we didn’t play our best basketball.
“This is how we’ve been playing since the All-Star break, sharing the wealth, obviously some games more than others”, said Wade, who had seven assists. “We all bleed, so there ain’t no reason to worry anybody, and that’s how he feels”.
The two teams finished the regular season with identical 48-34 records, but Miami ended up with the No. 3 seed and home advantage in a tight East race, while Charlotte wound up sixth. That will be different things, different nights. “We have to have more readiness to play”.
The final points total topped the 121 the team scored in the deciding game of the 2012 NBA Finals against Oklahoma City. They cut the lead to 4 and kept stomping on the Heat’s nonexistent energy en route to a 10 point win. Kemba Walker leads in points with 20.9 and in steals with 1.6 per game.
“We have a lot of great, young players in Africa”.
It helps the rookie duo to have each other to talk things over with, especially during tough times.
The Hornets avoided a larger first-half deficit as they converted 21-of-28 free throws.
Additionally, we have to give a ton of credit to Miami’s center Hassan Whiteside who should be in the running for the Most Improved Player of the Year award.
He led the team in scoring during the season, averaging 24 points per game.
If the Hornets are to focus more on Whiteside, that would allow more room for guys like Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade to get their shots. We’ve got a lot of guys who can score, but right now we’re so unselfish.
Clifford also said in the post game press conference that starting Jefferson over Zeller “is not something that he will look at”.
“He wants to get his game going”, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We got to regroup ourselves”.
To expect the same route as Game 1 would be foolish, but the Heat have the tools to come away with another win should they be prepared for the inevitable punch Charlotte will try to land in Game 2. In Game 1, however, the Hornets shot 6-for-17 from deep.
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And Chris Paul simply controlled Game 1, the Clippers outscoring the Blazers by 29 points in Paul’s 33 minutes of play. Now it’s up to the Hornets to bounce back in Game 2. Charlotte C Al Jefferson continued his reserve role in Game 1, and he finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He starts because he can be so good defensively. He added seven rebounds and did what he could to turn Nic Batum into a game-changing scorer, rather than a facilitator.
