Heat stave off disaster, blowing 20-point lead before pushing past Hornets 98-94

This is who the Miami Heat have become. Living on the edge. Seemingly every night.

A night after coming up short following a rally from 22 down at home against the Milwaukee Bucks, Erik Spoelstra’s team this time coughed up a 20-point third-quarter lead, to again find itself in yet another game decided at the wire.

This time, survival.

Barely.

And, so, a 98-94 victory Wednesday night over the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center, an 8-8 record at Thanksgiving, and an exhale, thanks, in part, to the late contributions of guard Tyler Herro and a muted triple-double from center Bam Adebayo..

“Just a collective effort from beginning to end,” Herro said. “A second night of a back-to-back is never easy.”

On a night Jimmy Butler looked like a 35-year-old playing on the second night of a back-to-back set, a night Adebayo largely left his offense behind, and a night Herro continued his recent cooldown from beyond the 3-point arc, the Heat turned up the defense and headed into Thursday’s holiday in a better place.

In the wake of Tuesday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Spoelstra had stressed the need for a complete defensive effort, more than the second-half defensive stand that proved to be too late against Damian Lillard & Co. a night earlier.

For the most part, he got that, save for the Hornets’ late rally, with Charlotte closing at .378 from the field and 17 of 51 on 3-pointers.

What the Heat could not do was cool off LaMelo Ball, who entered second in the NBA in scoring at 25.6 points per game, and closed with 32, albeit on 11-of-35 shooting.

In the end, the Heat got by with 27 points from Herro, despite his 4-of-12 3-point shooting, and 22 from Duncan Robinson, with Butler limited to six points and Adebayo to eight.

Robinson closed 6 of 9 on 3-pointers. Butler shot just 2 of 2 from the field. For his part, Adebayo rounded out his stat line with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, for the triple-double.

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

1. Closing time: It was tied 26-26 at the end of the first quarter, with the Heat then moving to a 50-39 halftime lead, closing the second period on a 13-2 run.

The Heat then pushed their lead to 20 in the third period, before taking a 75-58 lead into the fourth.

From there, the Hornets rallied within 84-77 with 5:27 to play and then drew within 92-89 with 2:23 on a Ball 3-pointer, with a Ball short jumper making it 92-91 with 1:37 left.

A Herro turnover followed, as did a missed Brandon Miller 3-point attempt, with a Tidjane Salaun 3-pointer putting the Hornets up 94-92.

But that’s when Herro settled things, first with a go-ahead 3-pointer for a 95-94 lead, then with a steal, and a free throw with 6 seconds to play for a 96-94 lead, missing the first of that pair.

A Hornets timeout followed.

That’s when the Heat lost Hornets forward Cody Martin off a sideline inbounds pass, with Martin sent to the line with 4.8 seconds remaining.

But, like Herro, Martin missed the first of his two free throws.

Playing without a timeout with those 4.8 seconds left, Martin intentionally missed the second free throw, with Heat rookie center Kel’el Ware then sent to the line with 4.5 seconds left converting both to close out the win.

2. Robinson sets pace: Robinson set the early pace for the Heat, scoring 10 of the Heat’s first 12 points, up to 13 by the midpoint of the opening period.

He closed the first half with 16 points, including 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, with the rest of the Heat roster 2 of 13 from beyond the arc over the first two periods.

Even as a starter, Robinson had scored 13, eight and 11 points in his three previous appearances, with no more than two 3-pointers in any of those three games.

Robinson then opened the second half with another 3-pointer.

3. Slow start: Butler played his initial 8:45 stint without a statistic, no shots, no points, no rebounds, no assists, no steals, no blocked shots and no fouls.

After scoring 30, 33 and 23 in his previous three games back after missing the previous four with an ankle sprain, Butler did not record his first statistic until he secured a defensive rebound with 5:25 left in the first half.

Butler’s first shot came with 4:05 to play in the second period, a successful 3-point attempt. That also was his only shot in his three-point first half.

Butler entered 3 of 15 on 3-pointers this season.

Butler’s second and final shot of the game also was a 3-pointer, converted with 1:34 into the third period, with those being his only two shots through the first three periods and his first 25:01.

It was Butler’s first back-to-back set of the season, having sat out the first game of the Heat’s previous back-to-back due to that ankle sprain.

4. Everything else: Like Butler, Adebayo did not load up on offense. But he did contribute across the board otherwise.

Lacking sidelined big men Mark Williams, Nick Richards and Miles Bridges, the Hornets started 39-year-old Taj Gibson at center, abandoning that approach early,

That allowed Adebayo to work as rebounder and facilitator. He closed 3 of 8 from the field, failing to convert a 3-pointer for the first time in seven games.

5. Rotation shuffle: With Kevin Love missing the game with the back spasms that had him out after his initial stint in Tuesday night’s loss to the Bucks, first-round pick Ware played as the Heat’s first big man off the bench.

As was the case Tuesday, that again had former starting power forward Nikola Jovic out of the mix.

Former Hornets guard Terry Rozier again played off the bench, in his second game back after missing two with foot soreness, closing with seven points.

In addition, second-round pick Pelle Larsson again played ahead of Josh Richardson and Dru Smith, who was available after missing Tuesday night’s game with a knee issue.

____