Heat survives Hornets’ comeback attempt to earn bounce-back win. Takeaways and details
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 98-94 win over the Charlotte Hornets (6-12) on Wednesday at Spectrum Center on the second night of a back-to-back. The Heat (8-8) now returns home for one game to face the Toronto Raptors on Friday at Kaseya Center:
Just 24 hours after a bad home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat took advantage of an undermanned Hornets team to escape Charlotte with a bounce-back win. But it wasn’t easy.
The Heat appeared to be in full control, entering halftime with an 11-point lead and extending that lead up to 20 points in the second half.
But even with the Hornets missing a chunk of their roster — Miles Bridges (right knee bone bruise), DaQuan Jeffries (right hand fracture), Tre Mann (low back inflammation), Jared Rhoden (G League), Nick Richards (right first rib fracture), Grant Williams (right ACL tear) and Mark Williams (left foot tendon strain) were all unavailable — they rallied to make it a close game down the stretch.
After the Heat entered the fourth quarter ahead by 17 points, the Hornets began the fourth quarter on a big 22-9 run to cut the deficit to four with 4:44 to play.
That’s when the drama started.
With the Heat pushing its lead back up to six, guard LaMelo Ball hit a three-pointer to pull the Hornets within three with 2:23 remaining.
Then Ball hit a 10-foot jumper to trim the deficit to one with 1:57 to play.
The Hornets continued their string of unanswered points when Tidjane Salaün made a three-pointer to put the Heat in a two-point hole with just 42.3 seconds left.
“When we got up 20, then it became about managing that lead and trying to build on that,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We weren’t able to do that.”
But Tyler Herro rescued the Heat, hitting a 29-foot three to put the Heat back ahead by one point with 28.4 seconds to play.
Then Herro made a big play on the other end, jumping the passing lane to come up with a timely steal with just 8.8 seconds left. The Hornets fouled Herro to preserve the clock and Herro made one of the two free throws to give the Heat a two-point advantage.
The Hornets still had an opportunity to tie or win the game and executed a side out-of-bounds play perfectly out of a timeout, as Caleb Martin caught the inbounds pass on a cut to the basket before being fouled by Heat guard Terry Rozier with 4.8 seconds to play.
But Martin missed both free throws to keep the Heat’s lead at two, effectively ending the Hornets’ hopes of completing the comeback.
Heat rookie Kel’el Ware grabbed the defensive rebound after Martin intentionally missed the second missed free throw and was immediately fouled with 4.5 seconds on the clock. Ware hit both free throws to clinch the victory for the Heat.
The Heat won despite committing 22 turnovers and allowing the Hornets to grab 16 offensive rebounds that turned into 27 second-chance points. Miami also got just 14 combined points from its leading duo of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.
In fact, Butler did not play in the fourth quarter as he sat on the Heat’s bench with a heating pad on his back. Spoelstra said Butler was held out of the fourth quarter because of a “tight back.”
The Heat instead turned to Herro, who scored 12 of his team-high 27 points in the fourth quarter while delivering in clutch moments. He also added eight rebounds and five assists in the win.
“He’s a shot-maker, he’s not afraid of the moment,” Spoelstra said of Herro.
Duncan Robinson scored a season-high 22 points for the Heat with the help of 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range. He scored 13 points in the first quarter.
“I was trying to inspire a little bit,” Robinson said of his hot start. “Was talking a little bit, which helps kind of get everybody going sometimes, get myself going. So it was good.”
The Hornets struggled to make shots throughout the night, shooting 37.8 percent from the field in the loss. But Charlotte came alive in the fourth quarter, making nine threes in the final period to put together a valiant comeback attempt.
Ball totaled 32 points on 11-of-35 shooting from the field and 7-of-20 shooting on threes for the Hornets. He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.
But the Heat built a big enough cushion to survive the Hornets’ late push, improving to 5-0 this season when holding its opponent under 100 points.
“From the mental toughness standpoint, we’re getting pretty comfortable in these kinds of games,” Spoelstra said. “I guess it’s seven out of 11 [games] that have come down to the last shot, not just the last possession but the last shot. So it was good to see us have to execute under duress down the stretch on both sides of the floor.”
Adebayo added: “We stayed true to ourselves and found a way to win.”
After logging 37 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks, Butler was available and played for the Heat on the second night of the back-to-back. But Butler didn’t finish Wednesday’s game.
After not recording a single statistic during an unusually quiet first quarter Wednesday, Butler’s first contribution to the game’s box score came when he grabbed a defensive rebound with 5:27 left in the second quarter.
Butler then took his first shot of the game, making a three-pointer with 4:05 remaining in the second quarter.
Butler entered halftime with three points, two rebounds and two assists. He took just one shot in the first half.
Then after being subbed out with 2:57 left in the third quarter, Butler never re-entered the game as he sat on the Heat’s bench with a heating pad on his back. Spoelstra said Butler was dealing with a “tight back.”
Butler ended the night with six points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field — both shots were from three-point range. He also contributed four rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes.
It was a weird game for Butler, who didn’t attempt a two-point shot or free throw in the win.
Wednesday’s performance marked the first time since Jan. 2, 2013 that Butler has finished a game without attempting a two-point shot or a free throw. It’s the first game in Butler’s NBA career that he has done it when logging more than 10 minutes.
Butler has now played on both ends of one of the Heat’s two back-to-backs so far this season after doing it in six of the Heat’s 13 back-to-backs last season.
Adebayo, Butler’s Heat co-star, finished Wednesday’s win with eight points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals in 36 minutes.
The Heat used the same starting lineup for the fourth straight game, and the results were positive this time.
The Heat’s new starting unit of Herro, Robinson, Butler, Haywood Highsmith and Adebayo has struggled to produce positive results at times through its first few games together.
After posting a plus/minus of plus 12 in 15 minutes together during is first start of the season in a Nov. 18 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Heat’s new starting lineup was outscored by eight points in nine minutes together during Sunday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks and then was outscored by 19 points in nine minutes together in Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks.
But on Wednesday, the Heat started the game by building a 19-16 lead over the Hornets before making its first substitution of the night with 5:06 left in the first quarter.
The Heat then began the second half on an 18-9 run with its starters on the court to turn an 11-point halftime lead into a 20-point advantage before turning to its bench.
The Heat’s starting lineup closed Wednesday’s win as a plus 12 in 14 minutes together.
Through their first four starts together this season, this group has been relatively neutral. This lineup has been outscored by two points per 100 possessions in 46 minutes together during this stretch.
Even on the second night of a back-to-back, the Heat had most of its roster available.
The only Heat players who missed Wednesday’s game in Charlotte were Josh Christopher (G League) and Kevin Love (back spasms), leaving Miami with 15 of its 17 players available against the Hornets.
While Christopher has been with the Sioux Falls Skyforce since the G League season started a few weeks ago, Love’s injury is new.
Love, the Heat’s usual backup center, exited Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks early with back spasms. The 36-year-old Love logged seven minutes off the bench in Tuesday’s first half, but was held out of the second half and did not travel with the team to Charlotte.
“We’ll find out,” Spoelstra said Wednesday when asked if Love’s back issue could keep him out for multiple games. “He’s not comfortable enough to play today or finish the game yesterday. But he’s dealt with it before and we’ll see how he feels when we get back.”
Without Love, rookie Kel’el Ware played as the Heat’s backup center against the Hornets.
Ware, 20, contributed four points, five rebounds, one steal and one block in 12 minutes during Wednesday’s win. It marked his most minutes since playing a season-high 14 minutes in the Heat’s Nov. 6 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
“Any of these experiences where the minutes really matter and you’re accountable to those minutes, those are big time experiences for him,” Spoelstra said when asked about Ware’s playing time on Wednesday. “And there were some good things tonight, the rebounding for sure. There were other things that he’ll continue to get better at.”
The Heat went with a bench rotation of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson, Terry Rozier, Alec Burks and Ware against the Hornets.
Rozier recorded seven points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting on threes, one rebound and one assist in 25 minutes while playing as a reserve for the second straight game. He started in each of his first 12 appearances of the season before moving to the bench for the last two games.
Meanwhile, Larsson finished Wednesday’s win with six points and two rebounds in 15 minutes. The Heat’s 2024 second-round pick has now played double-digit minutes off the bench in three straight games.
The only available Heat players who did not enter Tuesday’s game were Dru Smith, Nikola Jovic, Thomas Bryant, Keshad Johnson and Josh Richardson.
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 9:38 PM.
