Three Takeaways From the Hornets Loss to the Miami Heat on Friday Night

After six straight blowout victories, the Charlotte Hornets were set to take on the team only a few games above them in the standings: the Miami Heat.

The Heat were one of the hottest teams in basketball coming in, and over their last ten games had the league's #3 offensive rating, #4 defensive rating, and #3 net rating. The Hornets, of course, were one of the two teams with a better net rating (2) and offensive rating (1), but had the fifth-best defensive rating in that timeframe.

After a back-and-forth, high-powered offensive ballgame, the Heat edged the Hornets in the fourth quarter to take home a 128-120 ballgame.

Three takeaways from the loss:

Grant Williams is back after his injury

After a rough shooting start during his first ten games (26.3%) after returning from an ACL tear, Grant Williams' three ball has taken a massive step-up, as he is shooting 48.7% from deep over his last ten. Grant shot 3-7 from deep on the night, and was one of six Hornets in double figures tonight, finishing with 12 points.

"He's a really good shooter, and he continues to trust in it. You know, coming back from injury and not playing NBA action for about a year, sometimes it takes time to find that rhythm, that feel or play defense against somebody that's not an assistant coach, and then go play an NBA guy," Head Coach Charles Lee said after the ballgame.

"We always knew that he would start to come back around, and shoot the way we know he can shoot."

He was also one of two Hornets with a positive plus-minus, ending the night at a +3. Grant's impact has gone beyond the box score this season, where he has a +14.1 on-off net rating this season, with the team putting up a 104.6 defensive rating during his 395 minutes on the court.

Kon Knueppel should win Rookie of the Year

In his 33 minutes tonight, Kon Knueppel recorded 27 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, shot 9/14 from the field, and 6/10 from three. The Hornets' rookie has continued to be a star for the Hornets this season, and the team has been excellent with him on the floor. They are outscoring opponents by 2.9 points with him on, and he's been a part of a starting lineup that is 20-3 together on the year.

Outside of breaking the rookie three-point record, Kon is averaging 19.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and shooting 44.0% from three on 8.0 attempts a night. Rookie of the Year.

You cannot win them all

The Hornets have been excellent lately.

Still, it's impossible to win them all. The Hornets are still young and are going to go through growing pains. While it's not the result that fans may have wanted, it's a learning experience for the team against one of the NBA's greatest head coaches.

"You just won six games in a row," said Lee. "You lose a high-level game to a good team that was also on a roll, and I think that you just gotta learn and grow and keep moving forward. They're in a good spot."