Defense remains optional. Takeaways from the Hornets’ blowout loss to Miami

Understanding their journey through the play-in tournament will include at least one road game if they are going to advance, Tuesday night’s matchup at FTX Arena against the Miami Heat was supposed to be a perfect tune-up.

With the Charlotte Hornets tangling with the team atop the Eastern Conference standings in an unfriendly environment, it represented the kind of games they will probably find themselves in next week when the tournament begins.

“These are great challenges for us,” coach James Borrego said prior to tipoff. “These are playoff-type atmospheres. But every game prepares you. If you are waiting to get prepared right now, you are not a very good team. So this game is not going to prepare us for something that we haven’t seen before. We have been preparing all year from Day One.”

Looks like there’s still some work to be done.

Unable to contain the Heat’s offensive attack despite Miami missing Kyle Lowry, the Hornets dropped a tough 144-115 decision that might have severely damaged their chances to host a home play-in tournament game.

They fell into 10th place in the East, a full game behind Atlanta and Brooklyn, with three games remaining. They’ve lost three of their last four games, getting stung by two teams in the top four spots in the conference in successive games.

“It’s definitely good to play these teams,” Miles Bridges said. “We’ve played the Nets, even playoff teams in the West at home. This is getting us ready for the postseason. We’ve got to approach every game like a playoff game, and then we get to the playoffs and go from there.”

Here are some of the main takeaways from their third loss in the past four games:

DEFENSE OPTIONAL

Shoring things up defensively leading into the play-in tournament has to be atop the Hornets’ to-do list. Offensively, they have the firepower. But they are likely going only as far as their defense can carry them, and they still have a ways to do.

Miami poured in 70 points in the first half, and Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro combined for 32 points off the bench. The Hornets were a step slow in their switches and the Heat carved them up from 3-point range, draining 56.2 percent of their attempts beyond the arc through three quarters.

“We didn’t start off the game physical enough,” Bridges said. “Duncan Robinson got going. Tyler didn’t get any pressure the whole game. Third quarter, we just lost everything in the third quarter. So we’ve just got to fix that. These last two games, in the third quarter, we definitely haven’t came out with the right mentality, just letting guys do whatever they want. So we just have to get back to our defensive mindset.”

The Heat finished with a 58.4 percent showing from 3-point territory and nailed 57.1 percent of their shots. Defensive stops were non-existent for the Hornets.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” PJ Washington said. “They had two 40-point quarters. So we are not going to any games when teams do that versus us.”

BALL PILING UP DOUBLE-DOUBLES

LaMelo Ball is getting pretty good at this double-double thing.

Ball posted 18 points and 14 assists, notching his 22nd double-double of his second season. That’s the most double-doubles recorded by a Hornet since 2017-18. He keeps ascending into uncharted territory.

The output against the Heat marked the 18th time he’s registered double digits in both points and assists in a game, which is the seventh-most in a single season in franchise history and something that hasn’t happened since Brevin Knight had 19 in 2005-06.

HAYWARD DAY-TO-DAY

About 90 minutes prior to tipoff, word trickled in that Gordon Hayward had been downgraded with left-foot soreness and wasn’t going to play against the Heat. Hayward mentioned after his return following a nearly two-month absence that he felt a little sore, but he still planned to give it all he has because he wants to be present for the Hornets’ run to the postseason.

However, the Hornets want to be careful with him and decided not to push it in Miami.

“Yeah, just precautionary,” Borrego said. “A little bit of work here the last couple of days, a little soreness. So just out of precaution, we will sit him.“

Borrego said Hayward is day-to-day moving forward.

“After being off 22 games, that’s a significant amount of time,” Borrego said. “Especially the injury and where it is and some of his history. There’s some soreness there, so we’ve just got to manage it.”

HARRELL IS ODD MAN OUT

Borrego suggested on Monday that he was going to shorten the rotation, figuring it was the prudent thing to do because of the Hornets’ depth. Even before Hayward was ruled out, Borrego knew he couldn’t really go more than 10 deep as he deciphers the lineups he wants to utilize during their stretch run.

It appears he’s trimmed Montrezl Harrell out of the rotation — for the moment at least.

Harrell registered his first DNP-Coach’s decision since the Hornets acquired him at the trade deadline in February, failing to get on the court against the Heat. It became evident Harrell was the odd man out when Mason Plumlee picked up two early fouls and Borrego didn’t go to him, instead inserting Cody Martin in for defensive purposes.

“Yeah, just a rotation we went to tonight,” Borrego said. “We played smaller against their group. Whether we stay with this rotation, I’ll figure it out moving forward. But that’s where we went tonight. We can trim it out a little bit or we can add. We’ve got some depth here. I think the Gordon thing was a factor that happened late here today. So, it threw us off a little bit, but we’ll adjust. We’ve got a few days to figure it out.”