National Basketball Association

Center matchup key in Heat-Hornets game

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:54 p.m. ET

foxsports

MIAMI - Who said the days of significant centers are dead in the NBA?

Not the 1-0 Miami Heat or the 1-0 Charlotte Hornets, who meet Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

It will be the home opener for the Heat, who remade their team largely around 7-foot, 265-pound center Hassan Whiteside, who signed a four-year, $98 million contract extension in July.

Whiteside had 18 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in 31 minutes on Wednesday night, leading Miami to a 108-96 win over the Orlando Magic.

"I wasn't trying to make a statement," Whiteside said when asked about his first game since signing the initial major contract of his career. "I was just playing."

This is the first time that the 27-year-old Whiteside has had his name at the top of the marquee, sharing top billing with point guard Goran Dragic.

The Heat no longer have the "Big Three" that won two NBA titles and got them to four championship series in four years. Dwyane Wade bolted to the Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh is in limbo due to health concerns and LeBron James had previously gone back home to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Over on the Hornets side, they are also relying heavily on a center, 7-2, 270-pound Roy Hibbert, who has been in the spotlight since he was drafted in the first round by the Indiana Pacers in 2008.

Hibbert, 29, is a two-time NBA All-Star, but he has bounced around lately, spending last season on a brutal Los Angeles Lakers team before signing this year with Charlotte.

In fact, Hibbert signed with the Hornets on the same day Whiteside re-signed with Miami - July 7.

On Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, Hibbert made his Hornets debut, getting 15 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists. He made 6-of-9 shots from the floor, 3-of-3 from the foul line and grabbed four of his rebounds on the offensive end, giving Charlotte 32 excellent minutes.

The Hornets led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter.

"We just stuck to our game plan," said Hornets point guard Kemba Walker, who had eight assists. "We got a lot of stops."

Part of the plan for the Hornets, both on Friday night and for the entire season, is to get the ball inside to HIbbert, who had two monster dunks against the Bucks.

Charlotte let injury-prone center Al Jefferson go in free agency after a season in which he played just 47 games, including only 18 starts.

Hibbert, who played 81 games last season, is much more durable than that. In fact, he has played at least 65 games in each of his eight seasons in the NBA.

That's not to say Hibbert has nothing to prove. His scoring average dipped to a career-low 5.9 points last season, perhaps influenced by the train wreck that was the Lakers' season.

For his career, HIbbert averages 10.6 and 6.6 rebounds.

But while Hibbert is looking for a bounce-back year, Whiteside is trying to continue to ascend to what he believes is his rightful place among the game's greats.

In Heat circles, Whiteside is well known for using any perceived slight as motivation for domination - such as when he was only third last season in the voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Whiteside led the NBA last season with 3.7 blocks per game, adding 14.2 points and 11.8 rebounds.

He was even better after the All-Star Game, averaging 17.5 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. That's why Heat president Pat Riley made re-signing Whiteside his No. 1 offseason priority.

Beyond the intriguing center matchup, there are several other storylines to follow for Friday's game:

--Hornets small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who played just seven games last season due to a shoulder injury, had 23 points and 14 rebounds on Opening Night.

He will be opposed by Heat small forward Justise Winslow, a first-round pick out of Duke last season who is just beginning to tap into his potential.

--Hornets backup center Cody Zeller, who gets by mostly on sheer hustle, missed the entire preseason due to a knee injury. Yet he produced 15 points in 14 minutes on Wednesday, making 5-of-6 shots from the floor.

--Hornets power forward Frank Kaminsky, their first-round pick last year, missed the opener due to a strained right foot. His status is undetermined.

--Heat shooting guards Josh Richardson (knee) and Wayne Ellington (quad) sat out the opener and likely won't be ready for a while. Dion Waiters, who averaged 9.8 points last season while serving mostly as a backup for the Oklahoma City Thunder, started for Miami at shooting guard while also making his Heat debut.

--Miami's other new starter this year is 6-9 forward Luke Babbitt, a career 40.2-percent shooter from three-point range. This is his seventh year in the league, and last season was his career high in scoring (7.0).