The Miami Heat had quite a comeback against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.
The Miami Heat came up on the shorter end of the stick when it came to participants at the upcoming All-Star weekend, and they let it be known the world.
Despite that, it has yet to effect their play on the court, and Saturday’s matchup with the Charlotte Hornets made that abundantly clear. Josh Richardson had 19 points and five assists, Wayne Ellington scored 17 and Kelly Olynyk added 16, as the Heat put forth a late rally to outlast the Hornets, 95-91.
Capped off by Ellington’s 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds to go, Miami snapped a two-game skid that saw them drop games to the likes of Sacramento and Houston.
"“The great thing about this league is you have opportunities to learn,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The other night, it was a tough lesson but we really wanted to make amends for how we finish games defensively.”"
Kemba Walker led Charlotte with 30 points and Dwight Howard recorded 20 points and 16 rebounds.
Contrary to the final score, the Heat did not come out of the gates firing on all cylinders, and the scoreboard reflected it.
The Hornets raced out to a quick 15-8 lead before Miami pulled within four, as the first period came to a close. Richardson was their driving force during that span, tallying seven points in the quarter.
Luckily for the Heat, their fortunes would change as they found themselves up nine midway through the second, behind a strong stretch from Ellington and rookie Bam Adebayo. Capped off by a James Johnson turnaround with 0.9 on the clock, Miami headed into the intermission up six and carrying a title wave of momentum.
That wave however, would not last long.
Charlotte made its run in the third, outscoring the Heat 30-17 in the period, and had a 15-point lead midway through. At one point, the Hornets had outscored the home team by a margin of 27-4 over an eight minute stretch.
Miami was able to cut the deficit to seven heading into the fourth, and despite the fact that they were playing in front of their home crowd, fans at the AmericanAirlines Arena were quiet. As the fourth quarter began, a sense of nervousness began to creep over the depths of the arena. The Heat would extinguish that anxiety rather quickly, however.
Over the course of the games’ final 2:37, Miami outscored the Hornets to the tune of 8-1, and Ellington’s clutch 3-pointer was merely the exclamation point on a terrific fourth quarter, in which the Heat outscored Charlotte 24-13.
Despite that, Walker would have a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 30 seconds remaining. With the entire arena chanting against him, the former UConn Husky split the pair. The Hornets would not go on to foul, and the rest is history.
The win marks Miami’s fourth and final victory over the Hornets this season and their 28th overall, as they remain in a tight race with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference’s third spot.
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Already known as one of the league’s stingiest defenses, Miami held a team that had scored 217 points in their past two games to under 100, as the Hornets shot just 35 percent from the floor.