Hornets vs. Heat 2016 results: 3 things from Miami’s decisive 123-91 win

Within minutes, it was clear that the Miami Heat were in control of Game 1 of their first round playoff series against the Charlotte Hornets. A 9-1 lead turned into a 31-15 one, which ended in a 41-22 first quarter lead. The Heat's 123-91 blowout victory was just more of the same, as they firmly and decisively marched past Charlotte to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Hassan Whiteside and Luol Deng led the way for the Heat, with Whiteside recording 21 points and 11 rebounds while Deng exploded for 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting. Deng's renaissance come out of nowhere but was brutally efficient, as he nailed jumpers from all over the floor without anything the Hornets could do to slow him down.

Nicolas Batum and Kemba Walker combined for a respectable night, scoring a combined 43 points on 13-of-24 shooting. But the rebounding was nonexistent and the defense couldn't find workable solutions for Miami's persistent attack.

Deng hasn't scored more than 30 points all season, so naturally he dropped 31 in Miami's first playoff game in two years. The shots he came were from all over the floor, but they were all generated naturally by the Heat's methodical offense. The Heat played one of the slowest paces in the league this season, but they opened up their offense a little down the stretch after Chris Bosh went out and played Deng at power forward, something that led to him playing his best basketball in years. After the All-Star break, Deng averaged 15 points on 46 percent shooting and 8.1 rebounds per game, all massive upticks from his pre-break stats.

Watching the Hornets surrender 14 offensive rebounds to Miami is so atypical for Charlotte. They were the best team at securing defensive rebounds all season, despite not having one monster rebounder on the glass, because they never gambled and took pride in always being in the proper positioning. That's what Steve Clifford taught them this season, and watching the Heat eat them alive with second chance opportunities -- ones that took away from Charlotte's offense, which shot 45 percent from the floor -- just didn't line up with the team we've seen all season. Miami deserves credit here, but Charlotte should improve in this area during the rest of the series.

Dragic has slowly come back to life, looking more like the guard who earned All-NBA third team honors with the Phoenix Suns. Amazingly, despite being named to that team, he's never been to the playoffs before now. On Sunday, he had a pretty quiet evening scoring, with just nine points on 2-of-8 shooting. But with 10 assists and just one turnover, Dragic will be fine. He played the way Charlotte needed him to play, carefully running an offense that scored 123 points, and there's no doubt Miami expects more good things from him the rest of the series.

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