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Hornets-Heat Preview

Apr 19, 2016 - 5:30 PM So much can be said about what the Miami Heat don't have anymore from their last playoff run, but the start of the latest was all about newer faces.

Each began in similar fashion against the same team.

After a record-breaking blowout in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series, the Heat will go for their sixth straight postseason win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night in South Beach.

The last time Miami was in the playoffs, it fell in five games to San Antonio in the 2014 Finals, marking the breakup of its Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The latter two are still with the team, though Bosh has been out since the All-Star break with blood clots in his leg, and Wade, the longtime leader of the franchise, was merely the Heat's third-best player in Sunday's opener.

The 12-time All-Star scored 16 points in a 123-91 rout of the Hornets but took a back seat to a pair of players making their Heat postseason debuts.

Luol Deng made 11 of 13 shots for 31 points, his most in two seasons with Miami, and Hassan Whiteside shot 9 of 11 for 21 points while grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking three shots.

''Whether you lose by 30 or one, it's 1-0,'' Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. ''So we lost one game. But obviously, particularly up front, we just got manhandled. And if Deng and Whiteside are going to combine for that kind of numbers, it's going to be hard for us to win.''

Deng, a 12-year veteran who spent his first 9 1/2 seasons with Chicago, hadn't scored that many points since going for 37 in a triple-overtime game against New Orleans while with the Bulls on Dec. 2, 2013.

''He wants to make winning plays,'' coach Erik Spoelstra said. ''He wants to help a team. I think that will be different things, different nights. ... Mature, veteran players understand it's not about the numbers. It's about contribution of winning plays.''

While Wade was somewhat held in check, the Heat still posted a franchise playoff record for points and shot 57.6 percent. They made 9 of 18 3-pointers, including Deng's 4 of 6, and poured in 41 points in the opening quarter to match another franchise mark.

Oh, and they never trailed.

That was a similar story to the 2014 first-round series swept by the Heat, who won the four games over Charlotte by an average of 9.8 points. Eight regular-season matchups since that series have been split even though the Hornets have lost 15 of 16 in Miami, where the Heat have won seven in a row overall and 13 of 15 since the All-Star break.

Miami has won 10 straight first-round playoff games and 16 of its last 20 series after grabbing a 1-0 lead.

Charlotte, meanwhile, is still searching for its first playoff victory since topping the then-New Jersey Nets in Game 3 of a second-round series in 2002. The Hornets have since dropped 11 in a row.

Nicolas Batum scored 20 of his 24 points in Sunday's first half, and leading scorer Kemba Walker finished with 19 but sat out most of the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. Walker has averaged 19.4 points in five career playoff games, all losses to the Heat.

The two teams finished the regular season with identical 48-34 records, but Miami ended up with the No. 3 seed and home advantage in a tight East race, while Charlotte wound up sixth.

''I thought we were going to be ready to go,'' Batum said. "We've got to be ready next game. This may be a good lesson for us.''