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Kasparas Jakucionis #25 of the Miami Heat grabs the ball while guarded by LaMelo Ball #1 of the Charlotte Hornets in the first half during their game at Spectrum Center on March 17, 2026 in Charlotte.<\/p>\n
Jacob Kupferman<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat\u2019s 136-106 blowout loss to the Charlotte Hornets (35-34) on Tuesday night at Spectrum Center to drop its second straight game. The Heat (38-31) now returns to Miami to host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday:<\/p>\n
Without starting center Bam Adebayo on Tuesday, the Heat lost its second straight game as the possibility of another play-in tournament appearance looms. This turned into the Heat\u2019s most lopsided loss of the season, too.<\/p>\n
The Heat played without Adebayo for the first time since Dec. 27, as he was unavailable for Tuesday\u2019s game because of right calf tightness. It marked the ninth game that he has missed this season, ending his string of 36 straight games played.<\/p>\n
The Heat couldn\u2019t overcome his absence. Instead, the surging Hornets improved to 19-6 in their last 25 games after a shaky 16-28 start to the season.<\/p>\n
The first half was a competitive back-and-forth affair that included 19 lead changes and 10 ties before the Hornets entered halftime with a narrow 59-57 lead.<\/p>\n
But the second half didn\u2019t include any lead changes, as the Hornets began the second half on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to nine just 1:45 into the third quarter and played from ahead the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
After ending the third quarter with an eight-point advantage, the Hornets broke the game open by outscoring the Heat 40-18 in the fourth quarter. Charlotte led by as many 30 points in the final period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe let go of the rope a little bit at the beginning of that fourth and things kind of got out of control,\u201d Heat guard Tyler Herro said.<\/p>\n
The Hornets ended up outscoring the Heat 77-49 in the second half to turn a back-and-forth game into a 30-point blowout win. It\u2019s the most points that Miami has lost a game by this season, surpassing a 28-point defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were parts of the game where it was just highly competitive,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. \u201cBoth sides, both teams were going back and forth. It was set up to be a great finish. Once they got it to 10, that\u2019s when it really changed. And the flood gates went from there. So, it\u2019s a disappointing end to that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Heat shot just 7 of 36 (19.4 percent) from three-point range in the loss, including 3 of 20 (15 percent) from deep in the second half.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Hornets\u2019 offense was efficient. Charlotte shot 53.1 percent from the field and 17 of 42 (40.5 percent) on threes in Tuesday\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely didn\u2019t shoot the ball well,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re not shooting the ball well like that, then that doesn\u2019t mean that we have to just let the floodgates go on the other end. I think we gave up 62 points in the paint. That\u2019s not like us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three Hornets players finished with more than 20 points \u2014 LaMelo Ball finished with 30 points and 13 assists, Coby White scored 24 points and Kon Knueppel added 22 points.<\/p>\n
Herro was the only Heat player who hit the 20-point mark on Tuesday, finishing the loss with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 9-of-9 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and five assists.<\/p>\n
Along with missing Adebayo, the Heat was also without starting forward Andrew Wiggins because of a left big toe injury. Heat guard Terry Rozier (not with team) was the only other Heat player unavailable on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Hornets essentially had their full rotation available, missing Tosan Evbuomwan (G League), PJ Hall (G League), Liam McNeeley (G League), Antonio Reeves (G League) and Tidjane Salaun (left calf strain) on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, that goes without saying,\u201d Spoelstra said when asked if the Heat missed Adebayo. \u201cBut look, you deal with the hand you\u2019re dealt. Through three quarters, I thought it was a very competitive game. Was it going perfect for us? No. Was it going perfect for them? No. It was going back and forth, back and forth, just two teams competing and both teams knowing what was at stake. And then they had the massive response to start that fourth quarter, and we just didn\u2019t respond the way we\u2019re capable of and the way we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without two starters in Adebayo and Wiggins, the Heat was forced to use a new starting lineup that had Herro and Norman Powell beginning a game together for the first time in two months.<\/p>\n
The Heat opened Tuesday\u2019s game with a starting unit of Davion Mitchell, Herro, Powell, Pelle Larsson and Kel\u2019el Ware. It marked the Heat\u2019s 24th different starting lineup of the season.<\/p>\n
With Herro and Powell missing time due to injuries and their minutes staggered recently when they have both been available, Tuesday marked the first time that Herro and Powell have started a game together since Jan. 15. It\u2019s also just the eighth time that Herro and Powell have started together this season, with Tuesday\u2019s loss dropping the Heat to 3-5 in those games.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t go well.<\/p>\n
Herro and Powell, who are the Heat\u2019s two leading scorers this season, entered Tuesday with just 173 minutes played together this season.<\/p>\n
Herro and Powell played 17 minutes together on Tuesday. However, the Heat was outscored by the Hornets by 15 points during that time.<\/p>\n
While Herro totaled a team-high 20 points, Powell finished with 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field, 1-of-4 shooting on threes and 2-of-6 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
The Hornets overcame foul trouble and a big free-throw discrepancy to win Tuesday.<\/p>\n
After the Hornets trio of Knueppel, Brandon Miller and White each entered halftime with three fouls, Miller was called for his fourth foul with 8:46 left in the third quarter and Knueppel was called for his fourth foul with 7:44 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Both Knueppel and Miller were forced to spend the rest of the third period on the bench after picking up their fourth foul.<\/p>\n
That led to the Hornets missing two of their best players for most of the third quarter, but the Heat couldn\u2019t take advantage. Charlotte won the third period 37-31 to remain ahead of Miami before taking full control of the contest in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The Hornets also won despite being outscored by the Heat 27-17 at the foul line. Miami took 13 more free throws than Charlotte.<\/p>\n
The absence of Adebayo led to the Heat using a center rotation of Ware and … 6-foot-6 forward Keshad Johnson.<\/p>\n
With Ware playing as the Heat\u2019s starting center on Tuesday, Johnson played as the backup center.<\/p>\n
Johnson, who has been out of the Heat\u2019s rotation for most of the season, made his 25th appearance of the season on Tuesday. It marked only the seventh game that Johnson has logged double-digit minutes in this season.<\/p>\n
Johnson contributed solid minutes as the fill-in back-up center, totaling 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 shooting on threes, five rebounds, one assist, three steals and one block in 20 minutes off the bench. The three three-point are a new career-high for Johnson.<\/p>\n
Johnson, who won the NBA\u2019s Slam Dunk Contest in February, scored his first points of the night Tuesday on a one-handed reverse dunk. Johnson then made a corner three-pointer to finish the first quarter with five points.<\/p>\n
Johnson continued to impress with eight points in the second quarter to enter halftime with a team-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 shooting on threes to go with five rebounds, one steal and one block in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he finally got his opportunity tonight, he was ready for it,\u201d Spoelstra said of Johnson. \u201cHe contributed in a big way in that first half.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson, 24, was part of Heat bench rotation that also included Kasparas Jakucionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Dru Smith and Simone Fontecchio on Tuesday. Miami then emptied its bench late in the lopsided loss.<\/p>\n
Ware was quiet as the Heat\u2019s fill-in starting center, recording seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 shooting on threes, eight rebounds, one assist and one block in 28 minutes.<\/p>\n
The other available center options on the Heat\u2019s roster besides Ware and Johnson were fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic and undrafted two-way contract rookie center Vlad Goldin.<\/p>\n
Jovic, 22 was available on Tuesday after missing the previous 11 games with a lower back issue. But Jovic did not play.<\/p>\n
Goldin, 24, entered to play the final 2:21 of the blowout loss for just his fifth appearance with the Heat this season. Most of his playing time this season has come in the G League.<\/p>\n
It only gets tougher for the Heat, with less than four weeks left in the regular season.<\/p>\n
After losing to one of the hottest teams in the league on Tuesday, the Heat\u2019s next five games come against teams currently with a winning record. In fact, all five of the teams entered Tuesday at least 14 games above. 500.<\/p>\n
The Heat hosts the Lakers on Thursday, takes on the Rockets in Houston on Saturday, hosts the San Antonio Spurs on Monday and then travels to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers in back-to-back games on March 25 and 27.<\/p>\n
This challenging late-season stretch comes with the Heat trying to avoid the play-in tournament for the first time in four years.<\/p>\n
The Heat, which only has 13 regular-season games left to play, remains in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n
The seventh-place Heat (38-31) remains one loss behind the sixth-place Orlando Magic (38-30) and two losses behind the fifth-place Toronto Raptors (38-29).<\/p>\n
But the Heat is now tied in the loss column with the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks (37-31).<\/p>\n
The 10th-place Hornets (35-34) pulled within three losses of the Heat.<\/p>\n
The NBA\u2019s play-in tournament features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.<\/p>\n
The Heat, which has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons, needs to finish among the East\u2019s top six teams to clinch a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 9:42 PM.<\/p>\n
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