Hornets Douse Heat, Win Fourth Straight

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Winning basketball has returned the Queen City. Okay, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself but the Charlotte Hornets won their fourth straight Saturday night defeating the Miami Heat 108-103.

Steve Clifford has repeatedly expressed his frustration with his team's defense throughout the course of the season. Much of that had to do with the countless injuries which forced the Hornets to play young guys in roles that weren't quite ready for. Now that the team is near full strength, the have played significantly better on the defensive end and that was the case tonight against the Heat.

Miami opened the game 4/15 from the field and made just one of its final nine shots in the first quarter, keeping them at just 16 points. That goes for the second-lowest scoring quarter by an opponent this season with the best coming against the Indiana Pacers on January 8th when they allowed 15 in the first quarter.

LaMelo Ball couldn't find his touch in the first half missing 10 of his 11 field goal attempts, including all five shots he hoisted up from three. Kelly Oubre Jr. picked up some of the slack, providing 12 points off the bench in the half in just his second game back. Meanwhile, Kevin Love led the way for the Heat in his second game with the team posting 13 points and eight boards.

Charlotte held a 54-51 advantage at the midway point.

Ball found his touch in the opening minutes of the third by drilling three consecutive threes, pushing the lead to nine. He caught fire once again after the Heat went on a 9-0 run to begin the fourth, sinking two more triples which forced Erik Spoelstra to call timeout.

Mark Williams had the best game of his young career being a factor at the rim on both ends and then doing incredible work on the glass. He finished the game with 20 rebounds, breaking the franchise rookie rebound record, previously set by LaMelo Ball (14). He laid one in to give Charlotte a three-point lead around the one minute mark, came up with a big defensive rebound, and then threw down hard slam to make it a two-score game with 45 seconds left for the dagger.

The Hornets will be back in action Monday night inside Spectrum Center to host the Detroit Pistons. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST.

CUMULATIVE TEAM STATS

1ST: CHA 29-16

MIA: 5/24 FG | 1/9 3FG | 5/6 FT | 11 REB | 3 AST | 5 TO | 8 PIP

CHA: 8/21 FG | 3/8 3FG | 10/11 FT | 16 REB | 5 AST | 4 TO | 8 PIP

2ND: CHA 54-51

MIA: 15/43 FG | 5/16 3FG | 16/17 FT | 23 REB | 12 AST | 6 TO | 20 PIP

CHA: 17/47 FG | 4/15 3FG | 16/18 FT | 28 REB | 11 AST | 5 TO | 24 PIP

3RD: CHA 82-72

MIA: 24/64 FG | 7/26 3FG | 17/21 FT | 33 REB | 19 AST | 12 TO | 32 PIP

CHA: 27/66 FG | 7/23 3FG | 21/24 FT | 38 REB | 15 AST | 9 TO | 36 PIP

4TH: CHA wins 108-103

MIA: 32/80 FG | 11/36 3FG | 28/34 FT | 42 REB | 24 AST | 18 TO | 38 PIP

CHA: 38/88 FG | 10/31 3FG | 22/27 FT | 48 REB | 20 AST | 15 TO | 50 PIP

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