Heat spoils Hornets coach Charles Lee’s home debut

Jimmy Butler heated up in the second half, scoring 17 of his 26 points, and the Miami Heat won for the first time this season, defeating the host Charlotte Hornets 114-106 on Saturday night.

The Heat had to fend off several late-game threats to spoil the home debut of first-year Hornets coach Charles Lee.

Tyler Herro scored 22 points, Terry Rozier – who received a video tribute after being traded from the Hornets last winter – added 19 points, Bam Adebayo had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Nikola Jovic added 10 points. The Heat hadn’t played at home since their season-opening loss to Orlando on Wednesday night.

LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 27 points and seven assists. Miles Bridges scored 16 points, Seth Curry delivered 15 points, Tre Mann had 14 points and Nick Richards had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

There were several mini-bursts for both teams, and then Butler and Mann drained 3s within 15 seconds as the tempo picked up, and the Heat went up 102-99.

Herro’s 3-pointer and Butler’s two free throws made it 109-101 until the final minute, and after Bridges scored from distance, Rozier’s 3-pointer 34 seconds into the game helped seal the result.

The Heat had a double-digit lead early in the third quarter, but the lead quickly diminished. A 9-2 stretch in the fourth quarter gave Miami a 92-78 lead, and Charlotte responded with a 10-2 lead with more than six minutes to play.

Herro’s 3-pointer and Adebayo’s dunk gave the team an 11-point lead.

Butler missed six of his 17 free throw attempts but contributed eight rebounds and eight assists.

The Heat took a 56-48 halftime lead and scored 33 points in the second quarter. Miami shot 51.2 percent from the field in the first half, while Charlotte had 40.2 percent.

Neither Butler nor Adebayo scored a single basket from the field in the first quarter and were a combined 5-for-14 from the floor in the half.

Ball had 10 turnovers in Atlanta on Friday, but had just one turnover in the first half on Saturday before finishing with five turnovers.

–Field level media