It appears it's play-in tournament or go home for the Charlotte Hornets after losing to Miami Heat

Terry Rozier had his theory for what went wrong and troubled the Charlotte Hornets so much Sunday night.

“The team that’s more physical, always I feel is going to have a better edge," Rozier said. "I feel like they were the most physical team and then once we got down, their physicality made us argue with the refs and then we were behind after that.”

And this one could wind up haunting them in a couple of weeks.

Avoiding the play-in tournament is a goal of most teams in the postseason hunt. The Hornets are no different, but in falling to Miami 121-111, it made it all the more difficult for Charlotte to finish any higher than seventh in the Eastern Conference. Even though they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Heat, the Hornets dropped to 3 1/2 games behind Miami with just eight games left.

So overtaking sixth is a tall task. 

Seventh remains a possibility since they are two games behind Boston, with the Hornets having the edge with the head-to-head tiebreaker. They also hold the tiebreaker over Indiana, which entered Tuesday's action a half-game below the Hornets in the standings.

But in picking up their ninth loss in their last 13 games and getting overpowered by Miami in the second half, it's obvious they're going to have to crank their focus up to another gear to hold onto their loosening grip on a postseason spot. 

“This team was in the Finals last year," Miles Bridges said. "They know what it’s like to be in the playoffs. Mostly everybody on our team doesn’t know how to be in the playoffs besides Terry, Gordon (Hayward), Bismack (Biyombo) and Cody (Zeller). So yeah, they played more physical than us today and it showed.”

It's all a precursor of what could be to come.  

“We got eight more games to go," Rozier said. "So, any type of playoff look, any type of playoff feel is going to be great for our team right now whether we come out with a win or an 'L' right now, because we got to get in that mindset in being ready and knowing that it’s going to be really physical and that it’s going to be different. That just what it is. It’s just a different ball game when the playoffs start. But we still just got to only be worried about right now. We can’t worry about the playoffs yet."

At this point they really can't. Because a repeat performance could be detrimental.

"We learn from it, we’ll get better," coach James Borrego said. "I thought this was a high-level performance by Miami. It’s a great marker for us. We got to get to this level physically. And the physicality and our aggression’s got to be there. Miami had it tonight. We got to have it Tuesday night against Detroit.”

Quotable: "He’s getting there. Hopefully every game he gets a little more and more comfortable. He’s trying to find his rhythm out there. He’s been out for a while. We are all trying to get used to him. He’s trying to get used to us and at times it’s very difficult against a physical defense like Miami. They challenge you, they put pressure on you. We've just got to continue to coach him and teach him. He'll handle it. He’s watching himself, he understands he made a few (turnovers) out there that he’d like to have back. But we’ll get better rhythm."

— James Borrego on how LaMelo Ball is meshing with his teammates

Noteworthy: Cody Martin, who made his sixth straight start, left the game in the third quarter after landing awkwardly fouling Trevor Ariza underneath the rim. He was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle and didn't return.   

Up next: at Detroit, 7 p.m. Tuesday