Miller bounces back after a rough opener
Brandon Miller scored 34 points overnight as the Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat 115-110 at Spectrum Center, leaving Miami 0-3. Charlotte had been routed 128-81 by Atlanta in its home opener a day earlier, and it played this one without starters Kon Knueppel and Coby White.
Dennis Schroder added 25 points, Naz Reid had 23 and Grayson Allen finished with 20. The Hornets went 16 of 43 from three after a miserable 11 of 51 on Friday, and five of those threes powered a 24-7 run in the third quarter that made it 92-70 with under three minutes left in the period.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Giannis fouls out as Miami storms back
Giannis Antetokounmpo, in his first season with the Heat, scored 14 points and fouled out with just under two minutes to play. With him on the bench in foul trouble, Erik Spoelstra leaned on Davion Mitchell and Bam Adebayo alongside a bench group of Pelle Larsson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis Jr.
It nearly worked. Miami cut a 22-point hole and tied the game at 100, 102 and 104. Then Allen hit a three and completed a four-point play to put Charlotte up 108-104, and the Heat never got closer than three again. Mitchell led Miami with 22, Adebayo scored 20, Larsson 15 and Klay Thompson 14.
A first for Spoelstra
ESPN Research notes this is the first 0-3 start in Spoelstra’s 19 years as Miami’s coach. The two teams also met last spring in the Eastern Conference play-in, where Charlotte won 127-126 in overtime on a LaMelo Ball game-winner, ending Miami’s season. Ball has since been traded to Minnesota.
The Heat host Dallas on Monday, while the Hornets welcome Washington the same night.
Discover the rest of our NBA news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply