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Charles Lee's offensive adjustment that could lead to a Hornets upset over the Heat in Miami

Using Kon Knueppel as a screener should open things up for Charlotte tonight.
Matt Alquiza|
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Charlotte Hornets

The Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida was a house of horrors for the Charlotte Hornets earlier this season.

Charlotte waltzed into South Beach with their chests puffed out, riding the high of a 2-1 start behind stellar play from Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball, looking to put the league on notice. It didn't quite go to plan as the Heat humbled the Hornets, winning 144-117 in a game that devolved into a second-half laugher.

In that game, Miami took away the Charlotte's bread and butter, and the Hornets failed to adjust before it was too late.

Erik Spoelstra's half court defense stymied the Hornets

Through eight games, the Hornets boast the 8th ranked offense in the Association. Charles Lee's ball screen-heavy system has thrived in the early season, blitzing teams to the tune of 117.3 points per 100 possessions (per Cleaning the Glass).

Charlotte has a trio of dynamic ball handlers (LaMelo Ball, Tre Mann, and Collin Sexton), two lights out shooters with super computers for brains (Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller), two big men who set gnarly, bone-crushing screens (Moussa Diabate and Ryan Kalkbrenner), and a host of connective wings (Sion James, Miles Bridges, Pat Connaughton, and Liam McNeeley), that are unafraid to do the dirty work while still getting up shots in the flow of the offense.

That motley crew has embraced Lee's system and maximized their own talents to put out a wholistic product that is greater than the sum of its parts. Lee's offensive approach is tailor-made for this specific group of players to succeed in half court actions specifically, a stark contrast from the high-octane pace they ran with in the preseason.

Early on in 2025, the Hornets have struggled to get out and run. According to Cleaning the Glass, Charlotte is 21st in the league in transition frequency, and when they do push the pace, they've been exactly league-average, scoring the 15th most transition points per play on the break.

There are a few reasons for this: a lack of defensive stops (Charlotte allows opposing teams to shoot 56.4% from the field, good for 24th in the league), minimal 'events' on defense that lead to fast breaks (the Hornets are 23rd in steal percentage), and the swashbuckling captain of their fun-and-gun offense, LaMelo Ball, has either been compromised by injury or out of the lineup entirely.

Although the Hornets have struggled on the break, they've been dynamite in the half court, scoring the 8th most points per 100 possessions (99.7) in basketball.

Which brings us to the Heat.

Miami gummed up everything Charlotte tried to do in the half court with their deep stable of rangy wing players. The Heat have a seemingly endless trove of disruptive defenders with elite positional size that stymied the Hornets' offense at the point of attack. Their only 'undersized' defender, Davion Mitchell, made a major impact on defense too, acting as a pest that Charlotte couldn't shoo away with screens or isolation possessions that attacked him.

The game in Miami was the Hornets' second-worst halfcourt scoring performance of the year (second only to the loss against Minnesota, another team with a bevy of long, switchable defenders) as Charlotte struggled to solve the equation that is Erik Spoelstra's defense.

How can Charlotte fix their half court offense tonight?

An added wrinkle that the Hornets have deployed recently could lead to some good looks against the Heat tonight, especially without Bam Adebayo in the lineup.

One of Charlotte's favorite actions involves a point guard (Ball, Sexton, Mann) receiving a ball screen from Knueppel at the top of the key. Those actions are dangerous due to each of the ball handlers ability to get downhill and Kon's ability to knock down long-range jumpers in the blink of an eye. It leaves the defense at an impasse with no good options other than to switch the action and hope a mismatch doesn't get exploited.

When Miami switches, there aren't any mismatches. Every wing on Miami can guard the perimeter, giving them a leg up when the Hornets run these actions.

The new wrinkle in those actions sees Kon Knueppel slipping the screen and receiving a pass in the 'short roll' (an offensive play in a pick-and-roll situation where the screener receives an early pass instead of rolling all the way to the basket). Doing this allows Knueppel to effectively play four-on-three (with two defenders on his back) and flex his elite craft and decision-making skills.

If Miami tries to switch these actions tonight, Knueppel will make them pay if they overplay him as a shooter. He'll slip under the switch towards the free throw line (that short roll area) and take advantage of the Heat defense being put in the blender.

His ability as a shooter will always be available to him, so if the Heat change their coverage in these guard-to-guard screening actions and try to take away those short roll looks, Knueppel is always liable to pop out behind the arc for a three-point look, creating a cat-and-mouse scenario that may define tonight's game.

Charlotte needs to be efficient in the half court to pull the upset in South Beach, and spamming this newfound screening action with Knueppel will be imperitive in doing so.

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Matt Alquiza
MATT ALQUIZA

Email: Malquiza8(at)gmail.com Twitter: @Malquiza8 UNC Charlotte graduate and Charlotte native obsessed with all things from the Queen City. I have always been a sports fan and I am constantly trying to learn the game so I can share it with you. I survived 7-59. I survived lost the Anthony Davis lottery. I survived Super Bowl 50. And I believe that the best is yet to come in Charlotte sports, let's talk about it together! Enlish degree with a journalism minor from UNC Charlotte. Written for multiple publications covering the Bobcats/Hornets, Panthers, Fantasy Football

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