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The first round of the NBA playoffs conclude today, and the Miami Heat will be frustrated they have allowed their series with the Charlotte Hornets to head into a seventh game. Join The Roar for live scores from 3am (AEST).
After the Heat managed to take the first two games in a fairly straight forward sort of manner, they turned around and lost three in-a-row to be in under all sorts of pressure.
The Hornets played some quality Basketball to not only come from 2-0 down, but actually take the lead of the series after five games. The Hornets will be equally as frustrated as the Heat for letting it slip though, as they went home to the Time Warner Cable Arena for Game 6 and went down by seven points.
What has been an interesting trend right throughout this series is that if the Heat win – it has been down to their offence while if the Hornets have managed to scrape through with a victory then it was down to their defence pinning that Heat offence and limiting points.
To illustrate this point, it is easy to point out the Heat’s first two victories where they scored 123 and 115 points respectively. In the next three games though the Hornets would only need to score 96, 89 and 90 points – those figures really aren’t even in the same ballpark as what the Heat were scoring.
That tells you the Hornets are really here to play. While they were out hustled on the boards in Game 6, they won that battle in Games 3,4 and 5 and it showed on the scoreboards. They really manned up in defence, cutting down the Heat’s scoring options and unfortunately for them – there is only so much Dwayne Wade can do.
In Game 6 alone he scored 23, but speaking of one man offences it must be noted the amount Kemba Walker does for the Hornets. He scored 38 in Game 6, and it has been that way for the series, and much of the regular season as he averaged 20 points per game in a side that struggled to get to 100 most of the time.
The battle between Walker and Wade could go a long way to determining this match, but you just feel Wade has more support from team mates.
Prediction
Despite everything, the Heat have so much playoffs experience through the likes of Dwayne Wade and with home court advantage it is hard to see them dropping it with so much on the line – particularly when it was that experience that got them Game 6 on the road.
Heat by 8.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 3am (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds from Miami.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde