Heat again blow leads early and late, crumble to humiliating 105-102 home loss to Hornets

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 10, 2025

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MIAMI – There was a time when the Miami Heat backing up a previous performance was a good thing.

This is not one of those times.

And this has not been one of those seasons.

So Saturday night there was an early 17-point lead against the Chicago Bulls that was erased. Monday night, it was a 17-point lead against the Charlotte Hornets that was fully squandered.

Saturday night there was an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against the Bulls that evaporated. This time there was an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against the Hornets that disappeared.

Against good teams, bad things have happened to the Heat this season.

Now, against bad teams, bad things are happening to Erik Spoelstra’s team.

This time: Hornets 105, Heat 102 at Kaseya Center.

Yes, even against an opponent that entered 15-48 the Heat found a way to lose.

Now at 29-35, the reality is the Heat are facing a losing season of their own, with the current losing streak extended to four.

As has been typical, the effort was there from the Heat, with Bam Adebayo closing with 23 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, Tyler Herro with 21 points, Andrew Wiggins with 19 and Duncan Robinson with 14.

But simply an inability to either sustain or finish.

Again.

Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

— Closing time: The Heat led 34-21 after the first period and 58-52 at halftime.

The Hornets then moved to a 68-66 lead midway through the third period with a 14-0 run, erasing all of what had been a 17-point Heat lead. From there, the Heat took a 77-73 lead into the fourth.

Adebayo then took his rest with 7:48 remaining and the Heat up 84-77.

Then just as they did on Saturday, the Heat went up 11 early in the fourth, this time with the Heat lead down to 88-85 with 5:31 to play. That is when Adebayo returned.

From there, the Hornets tied it 91-91 with 3:56 to play.

That is when Robinson stepped up with a 3-pointer for a 94-91 Heat lead.

Later, Adebayo went 1 of 2 from the line to put the Heat up 97-95 with 1:39 to play, but back came Miles Bridges with a 3-pointer for a 98-97 Charlotte lead with 1:15 to play, with another Bridges 3-pointer putting the Hornets up 101-99.

After the Heat went down 103-99, Adebayo converted his second 3-pointer of the game to draw the Heat within 103-102 with 14.2 seconds to play.

A pair of Bridges free throws followed for a 105-102 Charlotte lead with 9.6 seconds to play.

Adebayo then airballed an open 3-point attempt from the top of the circle to effectively end it.

There was one more chance, when the Hornets fumbled away the ensuing inbounds attempt, but Herro was off on a floating 3-point attempt.

— Adebayo again: Adebayo this time was up to 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists by halftime.

His interior play was particularly needed with Kel’el Ware 1 of 5 from the field in the first half and arguably even worse defensively.

It was when Spoelstra dared rest Adebayo in the third period that the Hornets completed their rally from 17 down.

Adebayo closed 8 of 16 from the field.

— Ware struggles: In the wake of questions of why he wasn’t playing at the close of recent games, Ware endured one of his most uneven nights of the season, at 1 of 6 from the field before he was pulled in the third quarter.

The strength of Hornets center Mark Williams proved to be too much for the lithe Heat 7-foot first-round pick, with the Heat instead playing Haywood Highsmith late in the power rotation.

Still, Ware did get closing minutes this time, before being pulled in favor of Highsmith with 4:28 to play.

He closed 1 of 6 from the field, with five rebounds, three assists and five fouls.

— Wiggins early: As was the case Saturday night against the Bulls, Wiggins helped fuel a solid early start for the Heat, this time with 12 points in his 10 first-quarter minutes, at one point scoring eight consecutive Heat points.

But, as was the case against Chicago, Wiggins then cooled.

Even as he plays on in Jimmy Butler’s No. 22, Wiggins has yet to show the motor or strength to emulate much of Butler’s game, closer in playing style to sidelined Heat teammate Alec Burks.

Wiggins’ first free throws did not come until 6:47 remained, his lone trip to the line.

— Robinson again: Robinson extended his career-best streak of double-digit scoring games off the bench to eight.

Robinson’s contribution was needed with the Heat otherwise getting little in reserve from their wing rotation, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. with five points and Terry Rozier with four.

Robinson closed 3 of 7 on 3-pointers, with the rest of the Heat 7 of 24.

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