Heat vs. Hornets preview: Miami looks to bounce back at home

On Saturday night, the New Orleans Hornets will come into American Airlines Arena to face the Miami Heat.

Normally, this would be considered a lopsided mismatch, but with the recent play of Miami anything seems possible. After losing in embarrassing fashion to the then 1-13 Washington Wizards on Tuesday, the Heat came home and dropped a 112-92 decision to the Carmelo-less New York Knicks.

It has been a rough stretch but there is still good news. LeBron James is still playing at a Michael Jordan level, leading Miami in points (25.2), rebounds (9.2) and assists (6.9). Even in the loss to New York on Thursday, James poured in 31 points, collected 10 rebounds and dished out nine assists.

The bigger problem has been defense, which New Orleans' presence should help out with. The Hornets rank 27th in offense and don't have much in the way of star power outside of Anthony Davis, who is out with an ankle injury.