The Miami Heat made 11 straight baskets to begin the third quarter and didn’t record their first missed field goal until the 4:48 mark in the quarter. After going up at halftime, the Charlotte Hornets gave up 25 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. The Hornets couldn’t recover from that surge and their efforts to get a win in LaMelo Ball’s return to action was spoiled – losing to the Heat 132-115.
Speaking of LaMelo Ball…he showed some rust, understandably, in his first regular season game. In 28 minutes LaMelo scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists. His shot was out of sync, as he was only 1-9 from 3 and 6-17 from the floor overall. Ball will find his rhythm, but it was good to see him on the floor again.
The Hornets were led by Terry Rozier with 22 points and Kelly Oubre scored 20 points. Nick Richards and James Bouknight both played pretty solidly off the bench – scoring 13 and 9 points, respectively. Miami was led by the combo of Max Strus, Bam Adebayo, Gabe Vincent and Jimmy Butler. Strus led the way with 31 points, Bam had 24 points and 15 rebounds, and both Butler and Vincent scored 20 points.
The Hornets have now lost eight games in a row and will try to get back in the winning column Monday versus the Orlando Magic