Another Miami Heat starter goes down, leading to adjustments vs Hornets

The Miami Heat have put together a three game winning streak heading into this important game in Charlotte on Friday night.

Even with that, the Hornets are the story-line heading into this game as they're on a six game winning streak themselves, winning all six of those by 15 or more points.

This Charlotte offese has been trending upwards for a while now, and it looks to be getting harder and harder to match that scoring as the injury report gets updated prior to tip-off at 7 pm.

Norman Powell remains out as we know, which decreases some scoring numbers after putting up a strong 25 points on 50% shooting the last time these teams matched up.

But the bigger update was Andrew Wiggins being downgraded to doubtful for this game tonight, as he's actually one of the X-Factors in this match-up with this Hornets squad.

Andrew Wiggins doubtful for tonight in Charlotte

Definitely hurts as he’s one of the X-Factors against that team

Going to need even more from Pelle and Jaime, plus Myron rotation minutes now
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) March 6, 2026

For defensive purposes, he's the perfect perimeter switcher when dealing with Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Kon Knueppel on the edges. That means Pelle Larsson will have an even tougher assignment on that end of the floor, while they will definitely carve out some rotation minutes for Myron Gardner to go cause some problems.

But as I said before, this Hornets team can score. So while the defense is important, Miami needs to find a way to consistently put the ball in the basket tonight.

They glided to a win over Charlotte back in October because they put up 144 points on them, while shooting close to 45% from three on 45 total attempts.

Tyler Herro being back in the fold helps in the scoring category with his constant downhill attack, and Bam Adebayo's jumper may be the new X-Factor to breaking open the offense with the way Charlotte defends.

When guys go down, we often look at the "next man up" to fill the shoes of whoever exits the lineup. But in a crucial match-up that has seeding implications as Miami tries to claw their way out the play-in, they need their two best players to indeed be their two best players tonight.

Herro and Adebayo need to grasp this game early on, so that the pace and style of the game is played on their terms. Because if you fall into the trap of that Charlotte up-tempo and three point shooting game-plan, it can get ugly quick as it has for some of these teams as of late.

The Bam and Ware duo with some impressive numbers 👀 https://t.co/99uXqQyHr2 pic.twitter.com/klZOJPua7f
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) March 6, 2026

In many ways, the guy filling the hole of Wiggins in this one will be Adebayo. Erik Spoelstra will continue to lean into the Adebayo-Kel'el Ware combo against these second units, which mean Adebayo's perimeter defense could be a real difference maker if Miami pulls this off.

The schedule gets tougher for Miami beginning tonight in Charlotte, and if they're serious about making a late season run, they have a chance to put themselves on the map with a win against this scorching hot Hornets group.