LaMelo Ball hit a go-ahead layup with 4.7 seconds left and Miles Bridges blocked Davion Mitchell’s shot at the buzzer as the Charlotte Hornets beat the visiting Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime on Tuesday to advance in the play-in tournament.
Ball scored 30 points and Bridges added 28 for ninth-place Charlotte, which forced overtime when Coby White made one of his five 3-pointers with 10.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
“He’s been huge since he got here,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said of White. “He showed who he is again tonight in a big moment, in a win or go-home game. He didn’t have a great first half, but he continued to stick with it and came up with big plays down the stretch.”
Brandon Miller had 23 points for the Hornets and White finished with 19. Moussa Diabate added eight points and 14 rebounds.
The Hornets will travel to face the loser of Wednesday’s matchup between the seventh-place Philadelphia 76ers and the eighth-place Orlando Magic on Friday for a chance to meet the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“It just shows the character of the team at the end of the day,” Lee said. “Execution is not always going to be perfect, but these guys find a way to stick with it. … And that winning effort and competitiveness and togetherness to come up with a big-time block at the end of the game just shows who we are.”
Mitchell led 10th-place Miami with 28 points and Andrew Wiggins added 27. Heat center Bam Adebayo exited with a lower-back injury after taking a hard fall early in the second quarter when Ball appeared to swipe at Adebayo’s left foot. Adebayo did not return.
“I don’t think it’s cute. I don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s a stupid play,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s a dangerous play. He should be penalized for that. I don’t think that belongs in the game, tripping guys. Somebody has got to see that. He should have been thrown out of the game for that.”
Ball denied trying to intentionally trip Adebayo.
“I apologize for that one,” Ball said afterward. “I got hit in the head, didn’t really know where I was, but I’m going to check on him and see if he is OK.”
Herro scored 23 points, Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points, Kel’el Ware had 12 points and 19 rebounds and Norman Powell chipped in 11. Miami’s season came to an end in a game that featured 17 ties and 16 lead changes.
Both teams set the tone early during a physical first quarter that ended with Charlotte leading 26-24.
Adebayo walked gingerly to the locker room after being tripped by Ball near the basket with 10:58 left in the second period and the Hornets leading 30-26.
“I’ve never really seen him limp like that,” Herro said. “He’s usually a guy that stays in. Tells you how much pain he was in.”
Miami outscored the Hornets 28-22 after Adebayo left and took a 54-52 lead into the half.
White made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the final 4:05 left of the third quarter to give the Hornets an 89-83 lead.
Charlotte rookie Kon Knueppel, who led the NBA in made 3-pointers with 273, finished with six points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 from 3-point range.
Ball was 2 of 16 shooting from beyond the arc after finishing second in made 3-pointers this season with 272. The Hornets won despite shooting 32.1% (18 of 56) from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
