Three seasons ago, the Miami HEAT swept the Charlotte Bobcats out of the first round of the playoffs. The HEAT were on their way towards their fourth-consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals and their swarming, high-energy defense caused all sorts of issues for a team built around the slower, post-up stylings of Al Jefferson. The average margin of victory for Miami in that series was 9.5 points.

You can forget about all it now. This isn’t that.

Back when they were the Bobcats, just about 19.5 percent of Charlotte’s points came from three-pointers. That was then one of the lowest marks in the league. Now, with Nicolas Batum and Courtney Lee in the starting lineup alongside now-a-power-forward Marvin Williams and rim-runner Cody Zeller, 30.9 percent of their offense comes from deep.

That’s the same as the Cleveland Cavaliers. More than Portland. More than Houston. More than Atlanta and the Los Angeles Clippers. Only one team gets more of its offense from downtown, and that team just set the single-season record for wins.

“The second half of the season they’ve been like the Golden State of the East,” Dwyane Wade said. “We have our work cut out for us.

If the HEAT are going to advance, they’ll have to win the Battle of the Arc.

Charlotte’s newfound devotion and dependence on the three isn’t some gimmick, either. Coach Steve Clifford didn’t just finish binge-watching Jessica Jones on Netflix last year and decide to Kilgrave his team into a group of single-minded three-point gunners. By all indications, from the organizations roster moves to Clifford’s lineups and schemes, the team underwent a full-fledged paradigm shift.

The Golden State Warriors changed the league. The Hornets rolled with it, and in turning in a season with a Top-10 offense and defense in terms of efficiency Charlotte turned itself into a decent approximation of their possible inspiration.

“[They’re] like the Golden State of the East with how they play and how they drive-and-kick and pick-and-roll for threes,” Erik Spoelstra said. “And they have pullup three-point shooters. You have to be versatile in your defense. A lot of teams play that way, but they’re one of the better ones that do it.”

Alright, so we can back up a little here. The comparisons between the two teams mostly stop at the three-point line, as the Hornets don’t get to the rim or shoot nearly as well much less have the same players or flexibility. The point isn’t that the Hornets are the same as the Warriors, its that you might have to treat them as if they are the same.

Like the Warriors, Charlotte is capable of getting their threes every which way including loose. They can get them simple, with both Batum and Kemba Walker more than willing to dribble into a jumper if you give them too much of a cushion off a screen or one of their many handoffs – something Miami was have to be careful with given how far back their big men usually hang in pick-and-roll. They can get them complicated, with Batum and others running off and around a series of screens to get a quick shot off the catch.

And they can get their threes any way in between.

While the Hornets only sparingly went to the side pick-and-roll in matchups with the HEAT this year, they did strike with pick-and-pops early and often last time around. When they run it away from Hassan Whiteside, keeping him on the weakside of the floor, the HEAT have to deal with the threat of Batum and Walker in space off the dribble as Williams slides out to a shot he’s become one of the best at making.

“Marvin Williams, he’s not even setting a screen he’s always slipping,” Goran Dragic said. “It’s really tough for defenses, especially for the guy who is guarding him. You don’t know whether to stop Kemba or not to help so much.”

“Those are just tough shots,” Luol Deng added. “He’s a great player. He’s going to make tough plays.”

And then a play or two later they can take a slightly different avenue to getting the exact same look.

More than anything against this team, Miami needs to play smart and aware. Charlotte is as capable as anyone at finding the one shooter you helped off of too much in the corner, especially with Batum slinging cross-court passes, but their shooters don’t just stand around waiting for you to make a mistake. Without many one-on-one scorers the Hornets excel at movement out of necessity, running one action after another instead of bailing themselves out with individual play. When you’re focusing on all that movement on one side of the floor, the shooters are smart enough to loop up and down the line of the arc to create a passing angle you aren’t prepared for.

“Batum makes them very versatile,” Wade said. “He’s a great catch-and-shoot player, but also his ability to playmake and make you commit. That allows their three-point shooters to move and get in the right positions knowing that he’s going to find them as well.”

The Hornets don’t run a ton, though their possession numbers are a bit deflated by the fact that they are the best team in the league at taking care of the ball, but they’re incredibly efficient in the open floor. As they have for the past two months, the HEAT will want to push the pace to help up their own offensive efficiency. That cannot translate into loose defense running back the other way, lest the Hornets pass their way into quick hitters.

“They’re not scared to shoot,” Dragic said. “Even on a fast-break, if they play 3-on-4 or 4-on-5, if they can get open they’re still going to launch that three. Even if it’s one-pass and a shot.”

So how can Miami stop the perimeter onslaught? The good news is that only the San Antonio Spurs prevent non-corner threes better than Miami. The HEAT know a little something about taking away the value shots.

Some teams might choose to play Walker and Batum aggressively on the pick-and-roll, pressuring them to give up the ball, but they’re such good passers and Charlotte’s big men are such smart players that aggressive play can easily backfire into giving up a wide-open corner three. The HEAT haven’t really blitzed pick-and-rolls all season as they shifted to a more conservative style of defense around Whiteside’s paint protection.

Other teams may opt to switch everything, nullifying all of the Hornets’ screens and taking away the space they’re trying to create – a valid strategy against a team that doesn’t want to attack one-on-one in a slowdown game. But that takes an incredible degree of versatility and discipline and, again, it’s not something Miami has done much of this year.

What we have seen Miami do against teams like the Hornets and Warriors is fight like hell through those screens so Batum and Walker can’t get any space for a clean shot off the catch. Fighting through screens means trusting your big man to contain the ball until you can recover and with the need to stay home on all of Charlotte’s shooters, that puts pressure on Whiteside and Amar’e Stoudemire to lock down the paint without giving up open jumpers.

It’s a tough balance to strike, but it’s one Miami struck exceptionally well when the Warriors came to town after the All-Star Break. Sure, the Warriors did their thing and hit some ridiculous shots, but that was also as good as the HEAT have been against shooters almost all season.

You also have to have the guards who can execute such a physical strategy. Dragic, Wade and Joe Johnson have shown to be up to the task before, but Miami’s hidden weapons are rookies Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson. Last time Charlotte came to Miami the HEAT lost in part because the Hornets earned a few too many open threes and Batum hit a bunch of contested jumpers late, but Winslow gave both Batum…

And Walker…

All sorts of problems.

It’s a lot to ask of a rookie to defend the other team’s best players throughout a seven-game series, but Winslow has been doing it all season long so why would anything change now? He’s been more than up to the task.

How Miami will actually scheme for Charlotte remains to be seen, but they’ve had a plan for high-volume shooting teams before and they’ve often executed that plan extremely well.

It may seem a bit much to say they’ll have to defend like they defended the Warriors, but it’s best to give your opponent too much credit than too little. Besides, the Hornets have earned it. And if you respect them like the Warriors, you make them beat you like the Warriors.