After trailing by as many as 30, a monstrous comeback attempt from the Miami Heat fell short, dropping their season-high sixth consecutive game. Friday’s loss drops Miami to 22-24 and are two games back of the fourth-seeded Hornets, who improve to 23-21.
Right out of the gate, Miami found themselves trailing 40-23 in the first. At halftime, the Heat were again trailing 72-49. But as quickly as they had fallen, they had picked up and outscored the Hornets by ten points in the third and eight in the fourth. However, it was just too late to combat the early scoring of Charlotte in Friday night’s game.
Stats
Miami Charlotte
46% from the Field 49% from the Field
10 Turnovers 16 Turnovers
35% from behind the arc 42% from behind the arc
44 points in the paint 30 points in the paint
50% from the free-throw line 73% from the free-throw line
28 Assists 30 Assists
Despite the loss, Trevor Ariza had his best game in a Heat uniform, scoring 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jimmy Butler also played well, as per usual, scoring 20 points and dishing out nine assists. But Malik Monk was the story of the game, scoring 32 points for Charlotte.
Flashback: On Feb. 1, Monk scored a career-high 36 points against the Heat to help Charlotte erase a late 10-point deficit in regulation and win 129-121 in overtime.
Monk appeared destined to set a new career-best on Friday night, after scoring 24 points in the first half on 8-of-11 shooting.
LaMelo Ball
On March 21, it was announced that rookie point guard LaMelo Ball is expected to miss the rest of the season with a fractured right wrist. Leading all rookies in many categories, Ball’s absence would most definitely affect Charlotte. But in the Hornets’ third game without him, they have now won their third straight game. Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak did say on Friday that he’s not ruling out LaMelo Ball from returning this season. Ball is expected to be re-evaluated in four or five weeks after fracturing his right wrist on March 20.