Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 18 rebounds but battled foul trouble.
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After the Charlotte Hornets dropped the first two games of their first-round series against the Miami Heat, team owner Michael Jordan and assistant coach Patrick Ewing approached coach Steve Clifford with a suggestion: Post up 213-cm-rookie Frank Kaminsky more. They didn’t slow in the third, scoring the frame’s first nine points as part of a 36-8 extended run. Against Charlotte, the Heat shot better than 57% from the field and recorded 27 assists.
The Hornets – who were once down 0-2 in this series – will head back to Miami for Game 5 on Wednesday for the first game of what is now a best-of-three series. They fought back and trailed 76-75 with less than 6:00 to play. I think all three games have had a big burst of energy and momentum when one side has been able to separate.
For the second straight game, the Hornets ground out a win with defense, taking down the Miami Heat 89-85 to square their first-round series at 2-2.
Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook ended the Dallas Mavericks’ season, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 118-104 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference first-round play-off series at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Charlotte Hornets often looked overmatched through the first two games of their first-round series with the Miami Heat, but they find themselves one win shy of evening up the best-of-seven set.
Whiteside was hit by an elbow or knee in the second half of Miami’s Game 3 loss and has been undergoing treatment since late Saturday. Clifford was right again.
That’s been tough for Charlotte to do in Miami, where it’s lost 19 of 21, including playoffs. The Miami Heat are averaging 100.8 points on 47.5 percent shooting and allowing 94.8 points on 41.1 percent shooting.
Charlotte took a nine-point lead into the locker room at the half in what was just the beginning of a strong run. “It wasn’t going to be one of those where you keep them quiet the whole series”. On the bench, longtime National Basketball Association players like Udonis Haslem and Amar’e Stoudemire also provide maturity to support the Heat’s cause.
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The Hornets’ more spry backcourt rotation of Walker, Jeremy Lin and Courtney Lee was the difference Monday, with Walker and Lin combining for 55 points and Lee limiting Wade to 12 on 4-of-11 shooting as the star guard’s primary defender. Aminu made 11 of 20 shots from the field, including six of 10 from 3-point range. It might start defensively. The Heat got just 79 shots up compared to Charlotte’s 90. They’re competitive and they play hard and it’s not by accident that they had a good season. It was 69-61 entering the fourth quarter. This meant the outside opened up for the Hornets point guard Walker to take advantage.
