Key Takeaways From The Miami Heat's 115-110 Loss To Charlotte Hornets

The Miami Heat have lost their third straight to begin the 2026-27 season as they fell to the Charlotte Hornets on the road by a score of 115-110 on Saturday night. The Heat have long been expected to be an Eastern Conference contender but after this opening week, there may be different expectations for this new-look roster. This was the second game of the Heat's back-to-back set which began Friday when the team lost to the Detroit Pistons at home.

For the Heat, Davion Mitchell was the team's leading scorer with 22 points, adding 10 assists as well. Miami was trailing Charlotte by 21 points heading into the fourth quarter and Mitchell was a big catalyst for the almost-complete comeback. Bam Adebayo also shook the rust off his sluggish start to the regular season with a 20-point game of his own after facing a lot of criticism for his performances on Wednesday and Friday this week. Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled out after 24 minutes, only posting 14 points along with six rebounds and three assists.

Pelle Larsson and Bobby Portis notably played well off the bench and that is certainly a good sign for the team as the second unit has been a big concern throughout the week. Mitchell, Adebayo, Larsson, Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr. were the players in the rotation to have a positive plus-minus in Saturday's game.

For the Hornets, they led the game most of the way following a tied first quarter. The team was without guard Coby White and young star Kon Knueppel as they deal with their respective injuries. Brandon Miller scored 34 points while guard Dennis Schroder scored 25 points and Naz Reid added 23 of his own along with nine rebounds.

Miami was simply outplayed on Saturday against a team destined to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. It's been a rocky start for a team with high expectations but there were certainly some positives from this matchup such as the team showing some fight and not completely giving up in the final quarter after trailing big for most of the second half. If Antetokounmpo hadn't fouled out early, who knows what the result of the game would have been?

The Heat next host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday evening. The Mavericks don't have the loftiest expectations this season and were without star forward Cooper Flagg for Saturday's matchup against the San Antonio Spurs so it is unknown if he will be available for them on Monday. Hosting the Mavericks could be a good opportunity for the team to get their first win and start heading in the right direction.