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The Charlotte Hornets may be the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they sure aren’t playing like it.
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Charlotte has been one of the better sides since the All-Star break, finishing the home stretch of the regular season with an 18-9 record. That span included splitting two meetings with the Miami Heat, who the Hornets host in the Play-In Tournament.
Point guard LaMelo Ball dished out a ton of dimes in his most recent run-in with Miami, and our Heat vs. Hornets predictions see Ball at the wheel of that offense tonight.
My NBA picks love LaMelo to top his assist prop on April 14.
Heat vs Hornets prediction
Heat vs Hornets best bet: LaMelo Ball Over 7.5 assists (-120)
LaMelo Ball is at the center of the Charlotte Hornets’ surge. The polarizing point guard watched his playmaking prowess rise in the home stretch, dishing out more than seven assists per game.
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His brightest passing performance was 13 assists in a 136-106 blowout of the Miami Heat on March 17.
Since then, Ball has recorded at least eight dimes in eight of 14 games and did so against defenses much stiffer than Miami. Charlotte took on the likes of Detroit, Boston (twice), New York (twice), Minnesota, and Phoenix — all Top 10 in defensive rating.
The Heat, on the other hand, are horrendous on D. Miami was 28th in defensive rating in the final 15 games while allowing 127.5 points against in that stretch. Foes racked up an average of 30 assists per contest — fifth most.
Charlotte cracked open the Heat’s zone defense like a piñata in that last meeting, thriving with off-ball movement and dribble-kick passing to spot-up shooters. Ball is excellent at creating opportunities from collapsing the defense as well as working out of guard-on-guard screen action.
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Since scorching the Heat in mid-March, Ball has generated an average of 12 potential assists per game. In his three head-to-head battles with Miami, that advanced measurement leaps to 14.3 potential dimes for outputs of five, nine, and 13 assists.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/heat-vs-hornets-prediction-picks-191900433.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-14 12:16:00
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