Heat Notes: Ware, Haslem, Midway Point, Grades, Powell, Wiggins
Heat second-year big man Kel’el Ware continues to frustrate the coaching staff with his inconsistency. Ware was benched during the second half of the team’s loss to Boston on Thursday and coach Erik Spoelstra called him out afterward, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
“It was a tough matchup for him in Boston with all the coverages, and the same thing (Thursday),” Spoelstra said. “He just has to stay ready. Look, with Kel’el, I know that’s a lightning-rod topic. He needs to get back to where he was eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, where I felt and everybody in the building felt, he was stacking days, good days. He’s stacking days in the wrong direction now. He’s just got to get back to that. Stack days, build those habits, make sure you’re ready and play the minutes that you’re playing to a point where it makes me want to play you more.”
Former Heat player Udonis Haslem said during a Prime Video appearance that Ware needs to make the coaches believe he’s deserving of more playing time.
“Put them in a position to earn their money,” Haslem said. “Put them in a position to say, ‘He is one of our top seven or right guys, he should be playing. Let me figure out ways to get him more minutes because he deserves those minutes.’ I understand your minutes are going to fluctuate based on the situation with coaches. There is nothing you can do about it. But what you can do is every time you step out on the basketball court, make sure your minutes are impactful, make sure your minutes are positive.”
Bam Adebayo made similar comments to the media.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- With a 21-20 record at the midway point of the season, Miami hasn’t played to its potential, in Spoelstra’s view. “We feel like we’re better than where we are, but we are what our record is right now. That’s the bottom line,” the Heat coach said, per Chiang. “If you play games on paper, I think right now we would have a better record. But that’s not the case right now.” Adebayo believes the players need to be more focused and mentally tougher. “We are better than what our record says,” he said. “But until all of us commit to doing role-player things, we’ll keep being in the middle of the pack, mediocre. Until guys get sick of that middle ground of being seventh, eighth and not want to really make a push to be fourth or third in the East, we’re going to stay right here.”
- The Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman hands out midseason grades and gives Norman Powell an A and Jaime Jaquez Jr. an A-. Disappointing offseason acquisition Simone Fontecchio was awarded a D-.
- In the same story, Winderman opines that the front office might be better off trading Powell and Andrew Wiggins, noting the team is wallowing in mediocrity and could help its long-term outlook by acquiring draft capital. Powell will be an unrestricted free agent after the season while Wiggins holds a player option worth over $30.1MM for next season.
Heat Notes: Morant, Adebayo, Mitchell, Ware, Spoelstra
Following up on a report stating that Miami appeals to Ja Morant and his camp as a potential trade destination, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald says the Heat reciprocate that interest — to some extent. According to Chiang, the Heat and Grizzlies have had preliminary conversations about Morant, but those discussions haven’t advanced at all and a source tells the Herald that it’s “premature” to view Miami as a serious suitor for the point guard.
As Chiang writes, the Grizzlies are reportedly seeking draft assets and young players in a Morant deal, but the Heat would likely resist the idea of offering any draft picks or any of their most promising youngsters for the two-time All-Star, who has battled a series of injuries in recent years.
Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald agrees with his colleague’s assessment, tweeting that any Heat offer for Morant is unlikely to feature real value due to the sense that a trade partner would be doing Memphis a favor by taking the $86MM owed to the 26-year-old over the two seasons after this one.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- After a stretch in which he scored fewer than 20 points in 11 straight games, Bam Adebayo had a big night in Tuesday’s win over Phoenix, racking up 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Still, pointing to the big man’s underwhelming numbers for the season, one veteran executive tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald that Adebayo’s maximum-salary contract won’t be considered a positive deal going forward “if he keeps this trend on offense.” Adebayo continues to make a significant impact defensively but has averaged just 16.8 points and 2.7 assists per game on .456/.333/.758 shooting. “It’s amazing what’s happened with him,” an Eastern Conference scout told Jackson. “The new offensive system hasn’t done him any justice. His offense has regressed. He’s not getting as many assists. He’s better in a pick-and-roll-oriented system than what they’re running now.”
- Heat guard Davion Mitchell has started all 38 games he has played this season for the Heat, but he likely won’t be available on Thursday vs. Boston, having been listed as doubtful due to a left shoulder contusion. Mitchell said on Wednesday that his arm is already feeling better than when he injured it on Tuesday and that an MRI isn’t necessary for now, per Chiang. “If I’m still doing worse or the same tomorrow, then we probably would make that adjustment and get an MRI,” Mitchell said.
- The Heat have moved away from two-big lineups as of late, resulting in Kel’el Ware playing about 16 or 17 minutes in each of the past three games. However, that usage pattern isn’t necessarily permanent, according to head coach Erik Spoelstra. “There’ll be some games it’ll make sense to play both of them (together),” Spoelstra said of Adebayo and Ware, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). “Many of our rotations are super important and (Tuesday) night it was a speed game, a smaller game. But Kel’el had a big impact on the game in his minutes. That’s what he has to focus on, and that’ll earn him more minutes. That’ll earn trust, not just with the head coach, but with the players.”
- When Mike Tomlin stepped down as the coach of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers this week, it made Spoelstra the longest-tenured head coach in any of the major U.S. sports leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and MLS), Winderman writes for the Sun Sentinel (subscription required). Spoelstra’s enthusiasm about earning that distinction was muted, to put it mildly. “Some people could look at that as a badge of honor,” he said. “I look at that as really a disappointment to this profession, that there’s not more coaches that are given an opportunity to work through things.”
Heat Notes: Larsson, Jaquez, Jovic, Ware
During a light portion of the Heat‘s schedule last month, guard Pelle Larsson missed five games (over 11 days) due to a sprained right ankle. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes, Larsson sprained his left ankle on Monday against Denver and could end up missing a similar amount of games — the team plays five times over the next eight days.
“Comparing how it was when it happened now and then, it’s much better. So I’m expecting less time out,” said Larsson, who didn’t require an MRI this time. “I mean, Doc kind of ruled that out pretty quick when we were already at the game. So, and I kind of felt that, too, just the way, the pain level and stuff.”
The 24-year-old was able to get some side work in during Wednesday’s practice but has been ruled out of Thursday’s contest at Detroit, Winderman adds.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., a contender for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, has improved as a play-maker in his third NBA season, Winderman states in another story. The UCLA product dished out a career-high 11 assists on Monday and is averaging 4.8 assists per game, nearly double his totals over his first two seasons (2.6 and 2.5, respectively). “He has an ability to get downhill, get into the paint, use his physicality,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But, you know, the next layer of it is understanding that teams adjust and they bring a second defender, and he’s really been working at understanding where the open guys are and not predetermining anything. He’s been watching film on it, and he’s really improved quite a bit since last year.” Jaquez will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
- After struggling in his first 19 games of the season, Nikola Jovic has looked like a different player over the past three games since he returned from an elbow injury, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Jovic has been far more aggressive of late, averaging 17.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 5.3 APG while shooting 40.9% from long distance over that three-game span (24.0 MPG). The Serbian forward credited his family and a shift in his mentality for his improved play. “For me, it was to stop looking at basketball as a hobby and something that I love and look at it more as a job, as a profession because that’s who I am now,” Jovic said. “So, I come in every day with a different approach now, and I guess it has to stay that way.“
- While it’s a relatively small sample size, Kel’el Ware has been scorching hot from three-point range lately, pushing his season-long average up to 47.3%, per Chiang. The 21-year-old big man has converted 43 of his 91 outside looks thus far in his second season. “We just want to be open to the possibilities with Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “He has great potential. He’s getting better. It’s not a linear improvement. Sometimes there are big jumps. Sometimes it’s a step back. And that’s what typically happens with young players. But I just really appreciate his approach every day. He comes in everyday open to the coaching and us driving him to get to a higher level.”
Heat Notes: Ware, Larsson, Jovic, Adebayo, Jaquez
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra seems to deliver far more criticism than praise in his public comments about Kel’el Ware, but the second-year center is used to that, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Ware got the same feedback in college, first from Dana Altman at Oregon and then from Mike Woodson at Indiana, so he has learned how to handle it.
“I’ve been getting coached like that,” Ware said. “So it’s not much of a big thing to me, I would say. I just take it as they want to see me be better and be a better version of myself.”
Spoelstra challenged Ware over the summer to “improve his professionalism” and has stated that he needs to find ways to impact games rather than just collecting stats. Ware’s numbers have improved this season, but Spoelstra still wants more, especially on defense.
”He’s handling it appropriately when he’s being held accountable to winning things,” Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t have to be like a negative thing. We all want the same thing. We want a better result. We want growth faster. I want him to be like he’s 28, and that’s not realistic. And a little bit of impatience is good, as long as everybody handles it appropriately. But his play, obviously, is improving, and I want to feel that.”
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat are getting closer to having a healthy roster, as Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic are both listed as probable for Friday’s game at Atlanta, Chiang adds. Larsson has missed the past five games with a sprained left ankle, and Jovic has sat out the last four with a right elbow contusion/laceration.
- Bam Adebayo has been downgraded to doubtful for the contest due to lower back soreness, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). That could help explain Adebayo’s recent slump, as he’s averaging just 11.8 points over his last four games while shooting 37.5% from the field.
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. is scoring consistently again after his production stagnated for a while in late November and early December, Winderman notes in a full story (subscription required). Jaquez delivered 23 and 21 points off the bench in his last two outings. “I think it’s just playing confident, understanding now it’s my third year, there’s going to be ups and downs and just got to continue to play confident, play with the same tenacity of whether you’re playing well, playing not so well,” he said. “So that’s just really my mentality.”
Heat Notes: Slump, Adebayo, Herro, Larsson, Jovic, Ware
While head coach Erik Spoelstra thought the Heat showed some positive signs in consecutive road losses in Boston and New York, he was left searching for answers following the team’s third straight defeat on Tuesday, a lopsided home loss to Toronto, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“This is not what I would have predicted,” Spoelstra said following Tuesday’s 21-point loss. “I thought we were ready. I thought we had a good session this morning. I thought coming off of our last two games, on the road, even though there were losses, there were way more good things than negative things. In the New York game, we competed with a great spirit. That kind of game, you win a lot of games. But I don’t even know right now.”
As Chiang details, Miami entered December with a 13-7 record and the NBA’s 13th-ranked offense and third-ranked defense. But the team has gone just 2-8 so far this month, the worst mark in the league, with an offensive rating that ranks 27th and a defensive rating that ranks 18th over that stretch to fall back to .500 (15-15).
Third-year wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. said each player on the team needs to take accountability for his performance, starting with himself.
“I think it all starts individually,” Jaquez said. “We all got to look ourselves in the mirror. I know I can do a lot more. There’s a lot more that I know I can bring to this team. And just got to go dig deep and find it, bring it out. That goes for every one of us. It’s a tough stretch right now, and we’re really going to discover who we are in this time. And I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in this locker room. It’s something that we’re just going to have to battle through.”
Here’s more from Miami:
- Bam Adebayo has been in an offensive rut that coincides with the Heat’s slide down the standings, Chiang writes in another story. While the team’s new free-flowing offense earned praise early in the season, it has limited some of the go-to actions the Heat used to run for the three-time All-Star big man. Adebayo is taking fewer shots at the rim and more from long distance, but he has only converted 31.4% of his three-point looks, one of the worst marks in the league among players with four-plus attempts per game, Chiang notes. “It sucks,” Adebayo said of his ongoing shooting slump. “But it’s part of the NBA, it’s a long season. So fighting through whatever I’ve got to fight through, figure out how I can impact winning and do that instead of focusing on shots not falling. Just play basketball and shots will eventually start falling.”
- Adebayo is dealing with lower back soreness and is questionable for Friday’s matchup at Atlanta, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays. Guard Tyler Herro will miss his sixth straight game due to a right big toe contusion, but Pelle Larsson (left ankle sprain) and Nikola Jovic (right elbow contusion/laceration) are probable to suit up against the Hawks, Winderman adds. Larsson has been out for the past five games, while Jovic has been sidelined for the past four.
- Knicks head coach Mike Brown was effusive in his praise of Kel’el Ware after Sunday’s loss in New York, according to Chiang. The second-year Heat center had one of the best games of his career, finishing with 28 points (on 11-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from long distance) and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes. “I’ll tell you, Kel’el Ware, he was a beast tonight on the glass,” Brown said at the start of his post-game press conference on Sunday. “This is one of the very few times we got our behinds kicked on the glass, and a lot of it is attributed to him and the way he rebounded on both ends of the floor, and then he shot the mess out of the basketball. We told our guys he’s been shooting it really well. We just didn’t get to his body. It’s a little tough because he’s seven feet. So, with a guy like that, you almost got to close all the way to his chest just to try to hopefully make him put it on the floor.”
Heat Notes: Jakucionis, Guard Depth, Adebayo, Ware, Rozier
Friday’s loss at Boston was the sixth in the last seven games for the Heat, but they got an encouraging performance from rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Pressed into duty because of the team’s lengthy injured list, the 20th pick in this year’s draft got his first career start and responded with 17 points in nearly 36 minutes.
“He gives us the energy, the pace. He’s fearless in terms of his play-making, aggressiveness, getting into the paint,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He has really improved his three-point shooting. So that was definitely a bright spot. With Davion (Mitchell) being out, Kas got an opportunity and he really played well.”
Jakucionis has dealt with a bumpy start to his NBA career, caused in part by a sprained left wrist that sidelined him for part of training camp and the preseason, along with a strained right groin that forced him to miss the first seven regular season games. He has been playing mainly in the G League, where he’s averaging 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game with Sioux Falls.
“You never know when the chance is coming, when D-Mitch was out,” Jakucionis said. “I just have to be ready every time they need me, and I’m trying to stay ready every time they need me.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Jakucionis’ potential emergence adds to an extremely crowded backcourt in Miami, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel states in a mailbag column (subscription required). Injuries have been a factor so far, but Jakucionis could eventually be competing for playing time with Mitchell, Norman Powell, Tyler Herro and Dru Smith. Winderman notes that Pelle Larsson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are also used in guard roles, so there could be difficult decisions about playing time if everyone gets healthy.
- Spoelstra experimented with small-ball lineups earlier in the season, but injuries have forced him to rely more on the double-big combination of Bam Adebayo and second-year center Kel’el Ware, Winderman observes in a separate story. The Heat tend to use Ware in drop coverage to protect the rim, while switching on defense more often when he’s not in the game. “I mean, it keeps teams off balance,” Adebayo said. “We’ve got to look at it in a positive way. We keep teams off balance.”
- In another piece, Winderman calls for commissioner Adam Silver to make a decision on what the Heat can do with Terry Rozier‘s contract before the January 7 salary guarantee date and the February 5 trade deadline get any closer.
Heat Notes: Adebayo, Ware, Jakucionis, Wiggins
Bam Adebayo admitted on Friday that he needs to be more efficient. As Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald points out, the Heat big man is shooting just 10-of-23 (43.5%) from inside the arc and 0-of-3 from three-point range in the first two games of the team’s current three-game road trip. He also had three of his shot attempts blocked.
“I got to figure it out,” he said. “I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m accepting accountability. I’ve got to be better. I’m letting my team down, and it’s going to shift. Like I said, it’s going to shift. I’ve been through these times before. A lot of guys go through it. We’ll figure it out.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- On the flip side, Kel’el Ware scored a team-high 24 points and made a career high six three-pointers in a loss to Boston on Friday. “I’m just getting more comfortable out there,” he said. “Playing through the game, playing through the flow.”
- The Heat only had 10 players available, which thrust rookie point guard Kasparas Jakucionis into a bigger role — he made a good impression. In his first NBA start, Jakucionis had 17 points, five offensive rebounds and just one turnover in 35 minutes, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes. Coach Erik Spoelstra believes the time he spent in the G League proved beneficial. “What I will say is he’s here for a reason right now and not in Sioux Falls,” he said, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “I was extremely pleased with his eight games in Sioux Falls. Every game, he got in better game condition. He’s in superior shape, but also more confident. He did things that contributed to winning.”
- Andrew Wiggins‘ name has surfaced in trade rumors but he’s trying to ignore the speculation, Winderman writes. “I try not to think about it. I don’t really go on social media and search my name or anything that has to do with me, so I don’t really hear too much of anything, unless someone comes up and tells me,” he said.
Heat Notes: Adebayo, Big Lineup, Fontecchio, Herro
The Heat–Magic matchup in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup will tip off shortly. Bam Adebayo believes Miami can not only make noise during the in-season tournament but also the postseason.
“People are going to call us crazy, but I think we’re a contender,” Adebayo told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “We’re going to be called delusional. But how I look at delusion [is] if you ask how many people could be NBA players, what is the percentage of that? So, you’ve got to have a little bit of delusion when it comes to speaking stuff into existence. Like I always say, ‘Speak stuff into existence that matters.’ Manifest things that matter. Being able to just dream about that, write it down and keep looking at that. That goes a long way. And some of that is real. So, I think we’re contenders when we’re fully healthy.”
Following last season’s trade sending Jimmy Butler to Golden State, Adebayo has embraced the role of team leader and face of the franchise.
“This season, for sure, it’s like I’m the one in the driver’s seat,” Adebayo said. “That’s a big responsibility. It’s a big ask. But if they didn’t believe in me, they wouldn’t put me in the seat. That’s how I look at it. If I haven’t done things in the past where they were comfortable with saying, ‘He can be our guide,’ and I wouldn’t be in this seat.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Coach Erik Spoelstra is banking on the two-big lineup of Adebayo and Kel’el Ware to show improvement. “I just want to see that group, when we play bigger, just for it to be a plus,” Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “So we have some work to do there. It should be a very good defensive group, but that’s a group that hasn’t been able to defend so far, and we’ve got to continue to work at that.” The Heat has been outscored by 12.5 points per 100 possessions in the 123 minutes Adebayo and Ware have played together this season.
- Simone Fontecchio snapped a three-point shooting slump by hitting four outside shots against the Kings on Saturday. Spoelstra didn’t consider taking the Italian forward out of the rotation despite his shooting woes. “For us we know the value that he brings,” Spoelstra said, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “One way or another, he gives you the gravity. But all the other details, we’ve been really encouraged by the team defense that he provides. He’s very detailed. He’s intentional. He wants to do the right thing defensively. He also has a toughness about him. He handles his own under the basket, rebounding against bigger players. He sticks his nose in there.”
- After a two-game absence with a toe contusion, Tyler Herro was cleared to return for tonight’s game. Herro is averaging 23.8 points in the five games he’s played. He’s in the starting lineup tonight, Chiang tweets.
Heat Notes: Up-Tempo Style, Rozier, Ware
The Heat got off to a strong start this season behind an innovative up-tempo offense that de-emphasizes screens and pick-and-rolls, but the rest of the league is starting to adjust, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). The team suffered its third straight loss Saturday against Sacramento, and coach Erik Spoelstra acknowledged the need to fix some things ahead of Tuesday’s NBA Cup elimination game with Orlando.
“It was not one of our finer games, but we’ll regroup,” Spoelstra said. “I want our guys to get as much rest as possible. We have a practice day (Monday), which is good. I think we do need to get back in the gym and just fine-tune some things and get ready for Tuesday.”
Spoelstra revamped the team’s style of play over the summer, adopting a frenetic attack after ranking near the bottom of the NBA in pace over the last six seasons. They’re still playing at the league’s fastest pace at 105.4 possessions per 48 minutes, according to Chiang, but opponents are finding ways to slow them down. He notes that five of the team’s last seven games have been among the slowest paced of the season.
“We knew this was going to happen,” Norman Powell said. “We kind of surprised everybody with the pace, and now they’re ready for it.”
There’s more from Miami:
- CJ Moore and Fred Katz of The Athletic explore the origins of Spoelstra’s new tactics in a lengthy feature story. Spoelstra was ready to make changes after the Heat were overwhelmed by Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs. He met with players and coaches during the offseason and hired a consultant, player development trainer Noah LaRoche, who helped convince the Grizzlies to adopt a similar strategy when he worked for them last year. LaRoche is a strong believer in a “constraints-led approach,” which emphasizes cutting and quick decisions instead of set plays. “It was definitely an adjustment, but I think it’s an adjustment everybody embraced,” Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “When you have a lot of open space, you don’t really need screens.”
- Terry Rozier will be arraigned later today at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks of ESPN examine how Rozier’s situation affects the Heat’s roster and what recourse they may have regarding last season’s trade that sent a 2027 lottery-protected first-round pick to Charlotte in exchange for Rozier. Sources tell the authors that it’s not clear what would happen if Miami tries to include Rozier’s expiring $26.6MM contract in a trade for salary-matching purposes.
- Kel’el Ware has seen his playing time cut recently because his rim protection has been poor and his effort level has been “less than complete,” according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (subscription required).
Southeast Notes: Heat, Herro, Whitmore, Diabate
The Heat‘s 127-111 loss to the Kings on Saturday extended their losing streak to three games, with a growing injury report catching up to them in Sacramento, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, and Pelle Larsson all missed the game for Miami.
“We didn’t have a lot of juice on either end of the floor,” said head coach Erik Spoelstra.
As Chiang observes, the injuries forced the Heat to play their 10th different starting lineup through 24 games. Also of note was that Spoelstra went away from Kel’el Ware in the second half, choosing instead to start the third quarter with Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Just looking for some juice, looking for something to kick-start just some energy,” Spoelstra explained. “It didn’t really work out that way. But I don’t know necessarily what would have. It wasn’t an indictment on Kel’el.”
We have more from around the Southeast Division:
- The good news for the Heat this weekend was that an MRI on Herro’s injured toe showed a simple contusion, which is not expected to be a long-lasting issue. “I just was going to wait until we found out what the deal was,” Spoelstra said, per Chiang, when asked if he had been worried about the test. “I try not to stress out about the things that you don’t know about or can’t control.”
- Cam Whitmore didn’t play in the Wizards‘ game on Saturday, which coach Brian Keefe indicated was due to disciplinary issues. Varun Shankar of Post Sports broke down Whitmore’s play late in the previous game against the Celtics (Twitter video link), citing Whitmore’s lack of defensive effort and intensity on multiple plays. Shankar notes (via Twitter) that while the Wizards are tanking this season, they have put an emphasis on playing with the proper process.
- The Hornets announced, via Twitter, that Moussa Diabate was downgraded to out with right knee soreness for the team’s game against the Nuggets on Sunday. He joined a long list of Charlotte players on the injury report, including LaMelo Ball, Pat Connaughton, Josh Green, Tre Mann, Collin Sexton, and Grant Williams. Given the physical and mental toll of playing seven games in 12 days while shorthanded, maybe no team in the league is as ready for the upcoming five-day break as the Hornets, writes Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “Just use the five days and just focus on the right things,” said Brandon Miller. “Just come back with the mindset of just dominating and then we’ll be fine with that.”