Tough stretch for the Hornets starts today when they meet the Heat at the Ford Center. Then it's the Suns tomorrow night in Phoenix, followed by the T-Wolves in OKC on Friday, and a trip to Dallas to play the Mavs on Saturday. Busy busy.

Here's the skinny on the Heat…

• First and foremost, Shaq won't be playing because of some cut up on his knee. He's supposed to be out 4-6 weeks total, meaning he could also be out for the Hornets' Dec 18 trip to South Beach.
• The Heat are currently just 4-5 on the season, and 2-1 on the road. They beat the Hawks on the road on Saturday, 93-88, but had lost three in a row before that, including a miserable 100-76 loss to the Knicks in Miami.
• Dwyane Wade has been busy doing his thing: 27ppg, 7apg, 5rpg. Beyond that, there's Udonis Haslem's 14 and 10 and not much else. See for yourself.
• Miami don't look much like the defending champs right now, but apparently they're not worried about the slow start. Interesting that they started last season 10-10.
• Can't mention the Heat without mentioning their dancers.
• Gary Payton and James Posey are listed as questionable for the game today.

That's about everything you need to know about them Heat dudes. There's a few links below you can check out if that itch still needs scratching…

• AP game preview
• Crazy from the Heat
• Miami Herald: Israel Gutierrez blog
  
• Sun-Sentinel: Ira Winderman blog

On the Hornets side of things, David West is likely going to miss this four-games-in-five-nights thing with that forearm injury. Oh, and Brandon Bass might be in Byron Scott's doghouse. No, wait, Byron Scott doesn't have a doghouse.

In other news, Kirk Snyder broke his hand and will miss 10-12 weeks for the Rockets, which sucks for him but can't be bad for the Hornets given the whole division-rivalry thing.

And finally, just so I can break the record for most links in a blog post, Brian over at Hoops Addict makes us reminisce, and it feels good.

Gotta run. Game time is 7pm CT. Kick ass, Hornets.