Behind one of Tyler Herro’s most complete offensive performances of his career, the Miami Heat picked up a huge 128-120 win over the red-hot Charlotte Hornets inside Spectrum Center on Friday night.
The Heat’s win extends their current win streak to four, improving them to 11-4 on the second night of back-to-backs this season. More importantly, Miami is now tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 6 seed while moving just one game back of Toronto for the No. 5 seed.
Herro led the way with 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting, burying eight 3-pointers (on 10 attempts), marking a new season-high while being two off from tying his career high. Herro was just 13-for-38 (34.2 percent) over his previous six games. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t up to Herro’s standard — especially since he’s largely relied on his in-between game, going away from his 3-point shot.
That wasn’t the case Friday — and the Heat needed every one of his 3-pointers in what was a barn burner.
Miami made 18 3-pointers to Charlotte’s 19. Jaime Jaquez Jr. tied a career-high with four 3-pointers, scoring 21 points off the Heat bench. Despite a rough shooting start, Bam Adebayo still finished with 24 points and 12 boards. Davion Mitchell and Kel’el Ware had 13 and seven points, apiece.
The surging Hornets entered the evening winners of six-straight — pretty much all in dominant fashion, too. They weren’t able to get much separation from Miami, who went toe-to-toe with them all night.
Charlotte was led by rookie Kon Knueppel, a candidate for the Rookie of the Year award. He scored 27 points on 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Brandon Miller added 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists on 7-of-12 shooting and 3-of-5 from deep. LaMelo Ball had 21 points.
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These next 5 weeks should be like nightly dogfights between 6 teams for 2 playoff spots. It will be like having the playoffs early. There’s excitement in Mudville tonight!
Can this Miami Heat sustain their run? That top 5/6 is possible its theirs to lose imo
Philly lost to surging Hawks (6th straight win) and dropped from 6th to 8th place. Miami and Orlando tied for 6th one game behind Toronto. Heat could sure use a big win vs Pistons tomorrow who will be playing second game of B2B.
Was rooting for Wolves vs Magic but they laid a big fat egg. Cade didn’t play in Pistons loss might suit up tomorrow.
Velly inturesting
DET just lost after being up 23 vs Brooklyn, hard to stay in the game mentally vs a tanking team. A one game result like that or like Miami’s loss to Utah shouldn’t be overreacted to despite the headlines.
Philly lost vs ATL despite scoring 74 PITP, no defense being played by either team
DET only a 2 point favorite tomorrow, big opportunity for Miami
That was an awesome win, against a surging hornets, one of the hottest teams currently, with a Roy candidate. Before they lost to us they won 16 of there last 19 matchups. We beat them while missing norm,wiggy,and fonzi. While they’re relatively healthy. Herro was sensational and almost had a triple double, bam was amazing in the 2nd half, along with ware, the miami vice towers look good together. Juan wick was in full effect, and jumpshot looks good making 4 or 5 3’s. Also loved the minutes from the thunder God pelle, off night, the Gardner, Kasper, and dru. Love the win, we’re rising at the right time, huddled up with others above us in the standings.
We will be back in 8th in a minute from now, in a virtual 3 way tie for 6th.
Dude! Have you been assimilated by the Borg?
I was good only briefly. We are now in a virtual 2 way tie for 6th.
Resistance is Futile…………………
Miami offense has been slowly climbing from slightly below avg to slightly above avg, #17 to now #13 (against a relatively easy schedule). League average offense is 115.3 and Miami is 115.6.
If Norm can get healthy that’s a big addition. He doesn’t just get downhill but is elite catch and shoot from 3 at 41% (was even higher 45% last year with LAC and 49.6% two years ago)
That purported trade package Miami was offering for Giannis seems a bit excessive now, doesn’t it?
Herro, Rozier, Ware, Jaquez, Jakucionis, and multiple future first-round picks – including 2026, 2029, 2030, 2031, and 2032 picks or pick swaps, with the potential addition of another pick via Miami’s trade of Andrew Wiggins.
Be careful what you wish for…you might get it.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee is wallowing in 11th place, 4.5 games behind the surging 10th place Charlotte Hornets. Giannis has recently been visibly frustrated by the Bucks, who have lost 4 straight games. Better him than us.
Yes, I agree. I am willing to bank on our player who may never be nearly as good as Giannis, but is 10 years younger and could be a perennial all star.
Sunday should be some great matchups. Herro vs Ausar Thompson (maybe the best perimeter defender in the league), Bam vs Duren, Cade vs Wiggins or Larsson if Wiggins is out. Heat probably need a huge game from Bam.
The Heat are good at home 20-11 but DET is the best road team in the East at 21-9
Something has to give between the Heat averaging 54 in the paint and DET allowing only 42. If the Heat can reduce DET’s league leading +14.4 paint differential they have a chance
DET is another team like CHA that Miami has to keep off the glass. DET is #3 in OREB 30.9% and top 5 in free throw rate. On defense they are the best in the league at forcing turnovers (TOV% 15%, even better than OKC). But they foul a lot and give up a lot of free throws (last in the league in opponent FT/FGA)
No Ausar tomorrow is a big boost for the Heat. And DET being on the second game of a back to back/traveling overnight. Although they are 8-1 in b2b games this year. But those are some openings for a Heat upset
They won shooting close to 50% from 3 but they also won in the paint (+8). Bam had 18 paint points
On the year they have a positive paint points differential (+3). This is one of the stories of the year – last year it was negative. Last year they were #21 in PITP per game, this year they are #3, and even adjusting for their higher pace they are still #5 per 100 possessions.
Herro’s paint scoring is up this year, last year 37% of his points were in the paint, this year it’s 44%. In recent games he’s been scoring over 50% of his points there and was only a matter of time until his 3pt shooting was added to that.
How will it look vs Detroit. They are a juggernaut in paint differential (+14.4).
What are Jaquez pitp numbers? I’d imagine they are very high.
Yeah Jaquez is averaging 10.1 per game, same as Luka and Wemby (Giannis is #1 at 18.6)
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/misc?PerMode=PerGame&dir=A&sort=PTS_PAINT
Heat have 4 players in the top 75
Jaquez 32 (10.1)
Herro 44 (9.7)
Bam 51 (8.9)
Norm 65 (8)
Jaquez scores 66% of his points in the paint but only 42.8% of his made 2FG are assisted. That’s a similar distribution to Giannis/sign that he is creating a ton of offense
Interesting video on Jaquez.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5W7gDLkEtY
I know Ty and Bam had great games last night, and everyone acquitted themselves well. But, shout out to Jaime as he is relentless. You can stop him a few times but he doesn’t stop coming. And some of his threes were really important baskets. He figures out ways to contribute every second he’s out there.
Spo always talks about him as the team’s downhill threat. So important for this team. He’s 11th overall in the NBA in drives per game as a 6th man, really impressive
Holly shit, what a game.
By far the best game of the season, against really good opponent, which wants to win.
That’s a quality basketball.
There was not a bad player on the court, everybody contributed theirs.
Spo did a great job, team played close to maximum with players available.
Important players weren’t there, so the ceiling of this team could be a bit higher then Charlotte level team. That’s surely not enough for Detroit or Boston, but there could be a tight series with Cleveland or NY.
Anyway, if this is how they’ll play in the future, I m happy with any result which may come.
Great comments. Maybe I liked them so much because your assessments match mine pretty exactly. It’s hard to find the right words to describe an above average team that played a great game last night without over-reacting. The atmosphere of that game was different from pretty much any other game this year, and it was a thrill to win it, especially with the way Charlotte was playing and us being so shorthanded. Every player did great, but Ty was our star.
I enjoyed every minute of this game. Props to Charlotte too, they have an incredibly talented team. Yes, Herro was hero last night. .
The Heat finally showed they were able to win when behind after 3 quarters. Tonight was truly a team effort. It was also very exciting (as well as being a little nerve- racking). Interestingly, all of the players in the 9 man rotation are under 30. 5 are 25 or younger.
Miami has 4 players 30 or older (Powell 32, Wiggins 31, Rozier 30 and Fonteccio 30). Rozier $26.2M, Powell $20.5 and Fontecchio $8.4M, are on expiring contracts and Wiggins $30.2M, can opt out next season and seek a higher offer and longer term in Miami or elsewhere. The 4 30+ players represent approximately $85M in salaries.
It will be interesting to see how well the team meshes once Powell and Wiggins are back in the line-up and how the Heat finishes the season. If Riley had any intention of extending either player, it seems he would have done so before the trade deadline, in order not to risk losing them for nothing or next to nothing via sign & trade this coming summer. On the other hand, if he does not intend to extend them, he could/should have probably traded them before the deadline for maximum return.
Miami is currently 35-29 and has 18 games remaining in the season. 13 of the 18 games are against teams with winning records. If the Heat wins half of those games (9-9) it will finish the season 44-38. Last year, Detroit made the playoffs as the 6th seed with a record of 44-38. With 6 teams competing for 2 playoff spots, that record may not be good enough to do the same this year. If Miami wins 10 or more of its last 18 games, it will finish 46-36 or higher. That record should (hopefully) be good enough to finish as the 5th or 6th seed. If that happens, the Heat’s first round opponent will likely be either New York or Cleveland.
Next game is Sunday vs Detroit, followed by Washington, Milwaukee and Orlando at home over the next 10 days. With a little luck, the Heat might be 8-10 games over .500 by the end of the homestand.
GO HEAT!!!
I have to flip my own script a bit after these last few games. With Powell not being available for the foreseeable future, I believe when he does return, he should come off the bench with Herro starting. The starting rotation has looked good and Bam, Wiggins, Pelle, and Mitchell provide solid defense. I am also happy to see the Bam/Ware pairing getting the opportunity and minutes we have all been hoping for.
You may be on to something. I have reservations starting both Herro and Powell since neither is a good defensive player. This homestand should tell us a lot.
I’m not with you on the Ty starting idea. I still like him off the bench, but I can see why you changed. And for you, change comes slowly, so you must have made that call after a lot of observation. But, I am thinking maybe Notm and Powell can play together in crunch time, that could be explosive.
I am a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ type of person. With Powell possibly out an extended period, if the current lineup continues to do well, I would not want it tampered with. Last night was, imo, as good as this team could look. And I agree on your earlier point. Here in the RC household, we marveled over and over as to how Jaquez kept driving into crowded rush hour traffic and kept coming away with a bucket. As I’ve stated before, I love the transition to a younger team. With Ware, Jaquez, Pelle, and Bam as the core, this team can be very competitive for years. And they have good or potentially good complimentary players like Mitchell, Dru, Kas, and Gardner. They still need that A level addition to be true contenders, but they’re on the right track.
You did say that Powell may not be coming back for the foreseeable future. If that’s the case, and I hope it isn’t that you know something I don’t, then we do have to rethink things. I know we played really well last night but I still think a better team would give us fits without Norm and Andrew. I see Charlotte as coming, and gelling, but maybe playing a little bit over their heads, after watching last night. I feel like with a full line-up we beat them two out of three or better. There is a better level of teams than them in our division.
About a week ago, when Powell first went out with the groin strain, the Heat announced that he was ‘week to week’ as opposed to day to day. I assumed from that that he could be out at least 1 week (which has now passed) and maybe 1 or 2 beyond that. I have not seen an update, but found this on google…..
As of early March 2026, Miami Heat All-Star guard Norman Powell is dealing with a right groin strain that has shifted from a week-to-week status to a more concerning “weeks-to-weeks” timeline, causing him to miss recent games against the 76ers and Hornets. He is expected to miss multiple upcoming contests, including the March 8th game
Great comments. I especially liked the nuanced comments about Ty’s growing confidence (lack of desperation) in crunch time. Ty seems to more fully believe in himself, his skills, and knows he is always one of the best athletes on the court. He has scored 35 before, but it seems to me, and I know this is subjective, but he never quite shouldered the load as much as last night while still operating fully within a team concept. I mentioned this before, but what I think I am seeing is he may have evolved another level in his game.
tys played only 18 games hes relatively fresh.that might have been the plan to sit him lots games so come the real season hes got something left in the tank.when fresh hes as good as they get on offense.durability and being bad in the playoffs has been his calling card.lets hope with all that time off he can give us something when it matters the most.between norm and ty id sign norm one has to go.great game for ty last night lets see those type games in playin or playoffs.
The plan was for him to get cracked ribs and foot problems so he could be fresh? Come on, the guy has been injured – there’s no indication of a secret plan.
have him healthy and fresh when it matters the most.his body doesnt hold up rc.efficiency decreases with wear and tear then he gets hurt
Having him fresh is a good thing. Suggesting his injuries were not real is bizarre.
The foot injury yes the injured ribs close too or right when his name was being brought up in the Giannis trade I’m skeptical of and on.
Well, you’re right about the timing and you did say he might suddenly be healed after the trade deadline.
If you ever had a rib injury, you would now, that its incredibly painful and heal very slow.
No way he could play with rib injury. Every contact would make him scream because of pain.
I believe the suggestion was he really might not have been that severely injured and wanted to get past the trade deadline. Personally, I think he was injured, but it is very coincidental that the deadline passed and he’s okay. And hhhf4l did predict he’d be back just after the trading period.
Maybe. Only Ty knows the truth.
team is ascending.bams approaching ss status little bits to go then lots good nba players no reason not to be competitive with eastern teams
Huge win. Tyler was him. Ware had some hellacious boards towards the end. Bam still steady. Impressive on a B2B against a team that had matched a Warriors scoring record.
Go HEAT!
And 2 days earlier had crushed the Celtics.
Go Heat! Great game, they dug deep to get the W.