This was the opposite of the third-quarter burst that put the Orlando Magic away in the Miami Heat’s Wednesday season opener.
This time the third-period meltdown belonged to the Heat, as a 19-point lead in that quarter melted away in what turned into a 97-91 loss Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“We knew going in we had to play a complete game against them,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team didn’t.
After dominating the Magic with 74 points in the paint Wednesday, the Heat this time took their game to the perimeter and rose and fell with 3-point shooting that was crisp early, flat late. This time there were 28 point points and 14-of-34 3-point shooting.
“We knew going in this was not a game we were going to get 80 in the paint,” Spoelstra said.
With center Hassan Whiteside falling into foul trouble along the way, a home opener that appeared so promising at 65-46 less than three minutes into the third period turned into a double-digit deficit in the fourth.
While Whiteside closed with 20 points and 15 rebounds, the Heat did not have enough to overcome their 20 turnovers, miscues that led to 22 Charlotte points.
Guard Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 24 points, with Charlotte committing just eight turnovers.
The question was whether Spoelstra waited too long to reinsert Whiteside.
“I just wanted to make sure he could finish the game,” Spoelstra said. “In hindsight, there’s a lot of decisions you can go back on.”
The Hornets erased all of their 19-point third-quarter deficit to tie it 79-79 with 9:33 to play and then took their first lead of the night at 81-79 on a floating jumper from guard Ramon Sessions with 8:51 left.
That’s when Whiteside returned, after sitting with his four fouls. By then, momentum belonged to Charlotte, back on this court for the first time since losing Game 7 of last season’s first-round series.
Charlotte then moved to an 85-81 lead midway through the fourth on a Jeremy Lamb tip-in, leading to a Heat timeout, with a Goran Dragic 3-pointer drawing the Heat within 85-84.
But Walker then staked Charlotte to an 89-84 lead with a 12-foot jumper, with the Hornets pushing their lead to 10.
From there, the Heat closed within 94-91 on a Whiteside basket, but a Walker driving layup pushed Charlotte’s advantage to 96-91, effectively ending it.
“It wasn’t a matter of want or competitiveness,” Spoelstra said. “Our guys were super competitive in this game.”
With Whiteside forced to the bench with his fourth foul midway through the third period, the Hornets battled back within one point before a Tyler Johnson 3-pointer closed the scoring in the quarter and put the Heat up 77-73 entering the fourth.
With Whiteside closing the first half within one rebound of his double-double and with Rodney McGruder making all three of his first-half 3-point attempts, the Heat took a 57-46 lead into the intermission, matching their largest lead of the first half. The Heat closed the first half 8 of 17 from beyond the arc.
The Heat stayed with the same rotation at the outset as during Wednesday’s season-opening victory.
That had a starting lineup, with Whiteside at center, Luke Babbitt and Justise Winslow at forward, and Dragic and Dion Waiters at guard. Tyler Johnson, James Johnson, Willie Reed and McGruder then followed in order, as they did against the Magic.
That had the Heat with a three-guard lineup by the midpoint of the opening period and with Winslow as the primary ballhandler at the end of the quarter. Winslow had opened defensively as power forward, as the initial defender against Marvin Williams.
With Whiteside closing the opening period with nine points and seven rebounds, the Heat went into the second quarter up 23-21, after leading by as many as nine points in the first.
The Hornets opened with the size of Roy Hibbert against Whiteside, but Hibbert lasted only five minutes before being lost for the night with knee soreness.
The game not only opened the Heat’s home schedule, but was the Hornets’ first game back since losing Game 7 of the first round of last season’s playoffs.
The Heat remained without sidelined guards Josh Richardson and Wayne Ellington, with sidelined forward Josh McRoberts in uniform but only available for late-game inbounding situations. The Hornets were without sidelined forward Frank Kaminsky, who was held out with a foot injury.
The Heat’s three-game homestand continues Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs before concluding Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings.