Miles Bridges scored 35 points, and the Charlotte Hornets rallied from 17 points down in the second quarter to beat the Miami Heat 105-102.
The Hornets trailed 38-21 with 10:50 left in the second quarter. They were still down 88-77 with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter, with a 5% chance to win, and outscored the Heat 28-14 the rest of the way.
Mark Williams’ driving dunk with 19.6 seconds left made it 103-99. The Heat had the ball down 3, but Tyler Herro missed a 28-foot pull-up 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left that would have tied it.
During clutch time, the Hornets outscored the Heat 20-14. Bridges scored 13 of the Hornets’ 20 on 4 for 5 shooting and 2 for 2 at the line. In the fourth quarter, Malachi Flynn had 2 steals, 1 of them during a 10-0 Hornets run, and the Hornets scored 3 points off them. Late in the fourth quarter, LaMelo Ball had 4 of his 10 assists, 2 of them on baskets by Bridges that put the Hornets ahead.
Williams had 24 points (18 in the paint) and 10 rebounds on 9 for 13 shooting. Ball assisted on 5 of Bridges’ 12 baskets, 3 of them in the fourth quarter.
For the Heat, Bam Adebayo had 23 points (11 in the first quarter), 14 rebounds and 8 assists, and Herro added 21 points.
The Hornets went 22 for 23 at the line to the Heat’s 14 for 20. The Heat outscored the Hornets 28-15 in 12 minutes with Rozier, Adebayo, Robinson, Highsmith and Jaquez on the floor together.