Miami looks to continue great play against Charlotte tonight at 7:30

Tonight, at 7:30, the Charlotte Bobcats will try and cool off the Heat in South Beach. Charlotte comes into this game with a 4-7 record and a 1 game winning streak. They have seen everything the Heat can do, and have more than likely prepared various defensive sets to try and break the offensive effort that Miami put on Phoenix. Gerald Wallace has been playing well for the Bobcats thus far, and Charlotte beat Miami 3 of 4 games last season. Only problem is, this is not the Miami Heat of last season.

The Heat are hot (no pun intended), and are looking to stretch their winning streak to 3 by closing out the Bobcats at home. Bosh plays particularly well against the Bobcats (averaging almost 28 points a game since the 2007-08 season), and is also coming into this game extremely confident. Look for him to do some serious damage if he can continue to shoot in rhythm. When he scores more than 17 points per game, the Heat have 3 wins and only one loss.

Augustine is a solid point guard for the Bobcats, and could give Miami a little bit of trouble. We all know Miami has struggled against good guards, but they also shut down Steve Nash and the Suns. Hopefully, in this game we will continue to see the tenacious defense that allows Miami to build such substantial leads.

Wade is going to come out of this game firing. He scored the least out of the big 3 on Wednesday, and will most likely be looking to make up for it. Look for him to get close to 30 tonight and grab some rebounds. His defensive intensity has been very impressive lately, and I look for him to shut down whoever Coach Spo decided to put him on.

The bench should have a significant impact in this game. Charlotte is notorious for having a deep rotation, which could give Miami problems in the second half. Big games from Jones and House and solid minutes from Howard, Anthony, and Stack will give Miami the best chance of winning. The minutes when most of the big 3 are on the bench have to be hard fought minutes, where Charlotte will not be given the opportunity to put together a run.

Finally, we have LeBron. I expect to see a lot from James tonight. He has played solid basketball game in and game out since the season started, and has been one of the most consistent players in Miami's line up. He has been flirting with a triple double for a few games now, and I would expect him to be right there again tonight. Look for him to have between 22 and 28 points, and over 7 rebounds and at least 10  assists. When LeBron is playing his game, he is able to find open men and get everyone else involved. While LeBron is racking up the assists, Miami's role players will be lighting up the score boards. Expect some solid all-around basketball from the King tonight.
And hopefully, a few of these...

On paper, Charlotte seems like a pretty easy win. What I want to see most in tonight's game is lock down defense throughout. Miami can not give Charlotte the opportunity to get anything going, and everyone has to be on the same page. When Miami's defense is at it's best, it throws opponents out of any kind of rhythm they would hope to have.

The Heat are going to try to close out this home stand with a bang. Get excited.

-On a side note, the NBA All Star Ballots are out. Be sure to vote!