Heat beat Hornets
Spoelstra ties Riley with 454 wins as Miami’s coach.
CHARLOTTE — This was not about Erik Spoelstra tying Pat Riley’s Miami Heat coaching record of 454 coaching victories.
It was not about showing a road-warrior disposition, with the Heat already with a winning record away from AmericanAirlines Arena.
And it was not about pushing through the injury absences of Hassan Whiteside and Justise Winslow, who both remained behind in South Florida.
This 104-98 victory Friday night over the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center was about one thing, as it has to be amid this uneven start to the season: living in the moment.
So a game after blowing a 16-point lead in a home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Heat this time pushed to a 17-point lead in fourth quarter and found a way to close it out — barely.
Fighting through early foul trouble created by Hornets center Dwight Howard, the Heat extended their road winning streak to three, moving back to .500, at 14-14, on the strength of a 9-7 road record.
Sparked by their bench, the Heat got 16 points from Tyler Johnson, 16 from Wayne Ellington and an eight-point, seven-rebound first half from seldom-used forward Jordan Mickey when the rest of the Heat power rotation was in foul trouble.
Howard closed with 15 points and 16 rebounds, with point guard Kemba Walker pacing the Hornets with 25 points.
The Heat were without Whiteside for the eighth consecutive game with a bone bruise
The Heat were without Hassan Whiteside for the eighth consecutive game with a bone bruise on his left knee.
on his left knee, with Winslow missing his first game of the season, due to the knee strain sustained in the first half of Wednesday’s loss to the Trail Blazers.
That had the Heat going for the fifth consecutive game that had Kelly Olynyk opening at center and James Johnson at power forward.
The Heat had Tyler Johnson back after he missed Wednesday’s game with a migraine.
The Hornets were mostly whole, with only backup center Cody Zeller sidelined, following knee surgery earlier this week.
The Heat opened the fourth quarter with a 12-4 burst to move to a 17-point lead, with the Hornets, sparked by Walker, countering to close within 94-85.
Later, a Walker 3-pointer drew the Hornets within 100-93 with 3:16 left, rekindling memories of other recent Heat collapses.
After a Goran Dragic miss at the expiration of the shot clock, the Heat fouled Howard with 2:33 to play. Howard made only the second free throw, to draw Charlotte within 100-94.
That’s when James Johnson committed a turnover, with Walker getting to the line on the other end, with 2:02 left. Walker made both free throws to make if a four-point game.
From there, Dion Waiters was off with a jumper, with Howard powering to a driving layup, moving Charlotte within 100-98.
Waiters then converted a jumper with 69 seconds left for a 102-98 Heat lead.
The Heat then got a miss from Nicolas Batum on the other end, but the Heat committed a 24-second violation, up four, with 25.3 seconds to play.
From there, the Heat held on.
A flurry of assists and scoring from Waiters allowed the Heat to push to a
74-62 lead late in the third period with a 13-3 run.
The Heat then went into the fourth quarter up 79-71, with Howard already with his 16th double-double of the season and 10th game with 15 or more rebounds, at 12 points and 15 rebounds to that stage.
Walker sat out the end of the first half with a strained left wrist but returned with the wrist taped at the start of the third quarter.
With the power rotation in foul trouble, Mickey provided an unexpected firsthalf boost, with his eight points and seven rebounds, eclipsing his previous career high of six rebounds and matching his career high with those eight points.
The Heat move to a 12-point lead in the second period before going into halftime up 53-57, with Ellington at 10 points at that stage.
The Heat, though, also committed 10 turnovers in a sloppy first half that included nine by the Hornets.
Already lacking their starting center, the Heat spent five fouls among their centers in the opening period, with Olynyk called for three and Bam Adebayo two in the quarter, which ended with the Heat up 24-19.
It reached the point where Spoelstra summoned Mickey with 3:28 left in the first quarter, with James Johnson utilized as a point center to close with the period.
Howard feasted to seven points and six rebounds in that first quarter amid the Heat’s early big-man foul trouble.
Waiters kept the Heat afloat with eight first-quarter points.
It was the second game of the four-game season series. The Heat won the first meeting 105-100 Dec. 1 at AmericanAirlines Arena, when the Heat also were without Whiteside.
The Heat’s other visit to Charlotte will be Jan. 20, before the season series concludes Jan. 27 in Miami.