Sweeping a two-game set has not been an easy task for the Miami Heat, and changing that was a priority on coach Erik Spoelstra’s mind Wednesday night.
His team responded accordingly.
Duncan Robinson put up 23 points, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kyle Lowry each contributed 17 and the Miami Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets 115-104, finishing off a two-game home-and-home series that began on Monday.
“We haven’t been able to do it this year and, you know, not many teams have been able to do that,” Spoelstra said, noting that Miami had gone 1-1 in its other two-game series opportunities this season. “It’s a small thing. It’s not everything. But it’s something.”
Lowry was perfect from the floor, shooting 5 for 5, including 4 for 4 from downtown and 3 for 3 from the charity strike. Jimmy Butler had a double-double with 15 points and 10 helpers, and Jamal Cain added 14 points for the Heat. Thomas Bryant finished with 11.
Embed from Getty ImagesRobinson was on fire, knocking down six triples, tying his season-high. The Heat are 8-1 when he makes at least four 3-pointers this season.
“These guys put a lot of pressure on the defense in the paint,” Robinson said. “It’s helped me to kind of move without the ball and find a window.”
It was a balanced scoring attack for the Hornets. Terry Rozier scored a game-high 28 points for Charlotte, which got 20 points from Gordon Hayward, 19 from Miles Bridges and 18 from Brandon Miller.
The Heat dominated when it came to bench play and had a 45-13 advantage in bench scoring and an overwhelming edge in points off turnovers. They turned 21 Charlotte giveaways into 32 points, while the Hornets turned Miami’s season-high of 22 turnovers into only 13 points.
“They’re going to create a lot of turnovers,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. “I think we had eight in the first quarter. You know, we were better in the second quarter until the end. But they’re good at it. We had some careless ones. It’s a big part of what they do.”
The Heat were again without Bam Adebayo (hip), Haywood Highsmith (back) and Tyler Herro (ankle), plus saw Josh Richardson miss the game with a non-COVID illness. There may be hope for Herro to return soon, given that he posted a video of himself shooting on the Heat game court Tuesday night.
The Hornets lost PJ Washington to a left shoulder injury; he played only four first-half minutes and did not return. Charlotte was also without LaMelo Ball (ankle) for the seventh consecutive game, the Hornets are 2-5 since he got hurt, and Mark Williams (back) for the third time in the last four games.
Charlotte scored the opening four points in the game’s first 17 seconds, tying the quickest start to a game this season. And that four-point lead was also the largest the Hornets would enjoy at any juncture in the game.
The middle two quarters were all Miami: The Heat outscored the Hornets 69-47 in those 24 minutes of action.
Hornets: Host Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
Heat: Host Coby White and the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, the start of another two-game series that continues Saturday in Miami.
