The Miami Heat break records & defeat the Charlotte Hornets

The Miami Heat just had one of the best offensive performances in their history and defeated the Charlotte Hornets 144-115. This included a franchise record 23 three pointers made plus a season high and franchise record tying 35 points off the bench for Tyler Herro.

Eric Spoelstra was not on the sideline for this game due to health and safety protocol, so it was Chris Quinn taking his place again. Kyle Lowry (rest), Dewayne Dedmon (ankle sprain) and Markieff Morris (hip strain) were also listed out for the Miami Heat.

The start of the game was a little shaky with LaMelo Ball and the Hornets showcasing their versatility on the offensive end. Ball was able to cause problems with his playmaking and shot creating early on as Charlotte built as much as a nine point lead in the first quarter, but as has been the case throughout this season the coaching staff was able to make the correct adjustments on the defensive end to force the Hornets into other options in their offense. Miles Bridges used this to his advantage and had his way tying his season high against the Heat with 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting including 3-for-5 from behind the arc.

In response, Miami’s offense was clicking on all cylinders. Max Struss made a few early threes, Duncan Robinson came off the bench and connected on seven threes (five in the 1st half), Bam Adebayo was once again efficient shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 8-for-9 from the line while being the DPOY on the other end. All this was going on while Herro was absolutely scorching every Hornets defender in his path on his way to a game high 35 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the field 6-for-10 from deep and he was getting to the line as well going 7-for-7. Another impressive performance from the Sixth Man of the Year displaying his ability to score at all three levels and since the All-Star break his efficiency has been elite (48.6 FG%, 44.4 3P%, 82.6 FT%) on high volume (16.4 FGA, 6.5 3PA, 3.8 FTA). All stats that prove that Herro has run away with the award and will be the first Heat player to ever win it.

Of course I wouldn’t forget about the man himself Jimmy Butler, who dominated this game with 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting, five rebounds, eight assists and two steals after missing the last game against Toronto. I’m sure I’m not the only one loving the way Jimmy is trending from the three point line. He made two tonight, so going back to his last seven games he’s hitting 45% of about three attempts per game. Now I don’t expect him to hit that consistently moving forward, but you have to be encouraged by his willingness to shoot threes that are within the flow of the offense and actually make them. If that continues at even a 34% clip, he’ll be unstoppable on the offensive end.

I want to mention a few other players before I wrap this up and I’ll start with Gabe Vincent, who replaced Lowry in the starting lineup. Gabe didn’t have a good shooting night, but I was impressed with the way the Heat were able to put the ball in his hands as a primary ball handler and he finished with five assists to just one turnover. Caleb Martin is the other I wanted to talk about as he seemed to have some trouble getting into a rhythm early in this game, but as it went along he was the same two way threat we’ve come to love off the bench. He would even hit the record breaking three for his third of the night.

This was just an incredible night all around for the Miami Heat, who got great performances from their top three players, got another huge boost from the best scoring bench in the NBA and shut down the Hornets offense in the 4th quarter to boot. This win now strengths the Heats hold on the first seed as they are 2.5 games ahead of the Celtics and 76ers with two games remaining.

Now the Heat have two days off before they take on the Atlanta Hawks at the FTX Arena on Friday April 8th. It is going to be a very big game for both teams as the Heat will have a chance to clinch the no.1 seed in the East and the Hawks are tied with the Brooklyn Nets for the 8th seed and need a win to have a chance to avoid the 9/10 seed play-in game.