Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the two-time reigning champion Miami Heat will look to step on the throat of the scrappy No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Charlotte Bobcats, in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. Game 3 tips off from the Time Warner Cable Arena in North Carolina with the home team 'Cats looking to avoid a 3-0 hole. Watch the game on ESPN or live stream it free here. Heat fans can hear the game on 790 The Ticket, and Bobcats fans can find the radio broadcast on Sports Radio 610.
Charlotte put up a heck of a fight in Game 2 considering its best player, Al Jefferson, entered the arena in a walking boot. Still, four-time MVP LeBron James has proven too much for them so far, leading the Heat in points (29.5), assists (4.5) and rebounds (7.5). His dominance at home hasn't discouraged the No. 7 seed though.
"I think we know that we can challenge these guys and win," Bobcats point guard Kemba Walker said on Friday. "We're still confident as a team."
While the arrival of Jefferson this year has made the biggest impact in their surprise run to the postseason, Charlotte's gotten a lot from Walker. The third-year combo guard scored 17.8 points per game and dished out 6.2 dimes. Still, even the confident Walker knows beating the Heat is an uphill climb with Jefferson hurt.
"Miami is a great team," Walker said. "They are the defending champions, and we knew it wasn't going to be easy from the get go. ... We fought hard, but at the same time we feel like it shouldn't have come down to those late-game situations. There are so many mistakes we made over the course of the game that we probably could have been up."
James is wary of a letdown-the Bobcats haven't had a home game in four years so a wild crowd is expected.
"Their team is very desperate because they know they can't go down 3-0," James said. "So we have to come in with the mindset that we want to win Game 3, not go up 3-0. We're not going there for a sweep. We're going there to win Game 3, and then we'll worry about what comes after that."
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