LeBron's red hot shooting ignites Heat destruction over Hornets 108-89

There would be no letdown after the stinging loss to the shorthanded Chicago Bulls. Heck, there wasn't even the usual first half letdown against a much weaker foe during the latter part of the Heat's crazy 27-game winning streak.

The Heat quickly went back to their winning ways with the easy 108-89 blowout over the New Orleans Hornets and the outcome was never in doubt.

Guided by LeBron James' ridiculous shooting display during the first half, the Heat would not suffer any drama on this night, which meant this particular writer could put away his usual notes and sit back comfortably to enjoy a thorough beat-down from start to finish over an overmatched opponent. Even the home crowd was most appreciative of yet another LeBron masterpiece, his long range skills were on full display. We've seen stretches of hot shooting like this during his entire career, with this one yet another piece of evidence in what has to be a unanimous MVP decision at the conclusion of this regular season.

The reigning MVP went 7-10 beyond the arc and had plenty of motivation after the loss as well as the controversy over the lack of fouls called on him by the referees.

LeBron ended his night early in the second half after just 32 minutes, when it was apparent that the Hornets had no chance of getting back into this game with Dwyane Wade also enjoying a comfortably efficient 17 points on 7-11 shooting from a variety of moves to the basket along with 4 steals. And though Wade had 6 turnovers (including a bizarre sequence in the first quarter in which he collaborated with LeBron on an unforced error inbounding the ball without a Hornet player nearby), he also picked up his playmaking with 9 assists in a game where Mario Chalmers missed his first game of the season.

The Hornets were led by Ryan Anderson with 20 points but little quality production from the starters, including Anthony Davis, the #1 pick of the 2012 Draft, who played his first game against the Heat but was not a factor with just 11 points and 5 rebounds. His lowlight of the night was losing the ball midair on his way to what was sure to be an uncontested dunk. Eric Gordon went 10-10 from the free throw line but did little else himself, only making 3 field goals out of 11 attempts and only dishing out two assists.