Wade scored 23 points, making 10 of his 20 shots. But Lee’s heroics started with his rebound.
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After allowing the Hornets to make 12-of-24 three-pointers in Game 5, the Heat had to limit the Hornets’ long range scoring. “He’s a terrific athlete, and he has good timing”.
Heat vs. Hornets Preview – The Charlotte Hornets have won three straight games and took full control of the their first-round series against the fourth-seeded Miami Heat by stealing a win on the road on Wednesday. The Hornets would love nothing more than to celebrate a series win on their home court.
After the Hornets made their road breakthrough with their Game 5 victory, the Heat responded with arguably their best road effort since just after the All-Star break.
Whiteside was forced to the bench with foul trouble with 6:59 to play, after being called for his fifth foul, with the Heat up 83-76.
“It’s always tough to lose, obviously”, Walker said. He not only grabbed the rebound, he also made the shot even though he was only 1-of-8 from the floor at the time.
“Dwyane”, Spoelstra said, “feels most alive when its competition is at its highest and the game feels like this”.
“I think you go through the whole game and it’s transparent for the whole game”, Wade told the Post’s Jason Lieser. “And we didn’t scramble”.
With match point in their own building and against a franchise that has played a major roll in keeping Charlotte down over the years, Friday night is the biggest night in well over a decade for the Hornets/Bobcats. After all, Lee is the only Hornets player with NBA Finals experience, having played for the 2009 Orlando Magic.
Wade said he watched Thursday night’s Game 6 between the Celtics and Hawks and saw plenty of examples early in the game when similar plays happened and fouls were called. At that point, I was just playing basketball. I’ve seen him enough over the years that it just becomes about winning plays, whatever those may be.
“There’s no reason for me to look at it”, Wade said.
Whiteside averaged 19 points on 89 percent shooting over the first two games of the series.
The 6-1 point guard somehow got an up-and-under layup to fall and hit big shots in the fourth quarter, including a three-pointer from the left wing to beat the shot clock and cut Miami’s lead to 85-81.
The Charlotte Hornets rank lower for their field goal percentage (26th) than they do for their effective field goal percentage (17th), but the Miami Heat have a better FG% ranking (fourth) than their EFF% ranking (11th). Then 13. Overall, the Heat shot the lights out in the first half.
He scored 10 of his 14 first-half points in the final 5:49 before intermission, sparking a 17-7 Miami burst to get within 49-47.
Kemba Walker poured in a series-high 37 points on 14-of-30 shooting to go along with three rebounds and a game-high five assists in the defeat.
Walker, though, was understandably upbeat as his team prevailed.
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“We’re just going to go out there and we’re going to compete and we’re going to put our best foot forward, ” Lillard said. “That’s our mindset right now”.
