Heat come up shy against compromised Hornets, lose 115-110

Heat Hornets — (Mandatory Credit: Helen McGinnis/Getty Images)

Three games into the Giannis Antetokounmpo era, and the Miami Heat are still looking for their first win.

After two-straight blowout losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons, the shorthanded Charlotte Hornets, who lost by 47 the night before, handed Miami its third straight loss to begin the season, 114-107.

The result was almost worse, too.

Down by as many as 23 points in the second half, a Davion Mitchell, Bobby Portis-led Heat conjured together a 27-4 run to tie it at 100 with 5:42 left. With it knotted at 104 with 3:20 left, Hornets guard Grayson Allen converted an impossible 30-foot four-point play to give Charlotte a two-possession lead. That took all the wind out of the Heat’s sails, even though the Hornets did not have a made basket for the remainder of the game.

Bam Adebayo bounced back, scoring 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting with eight rebounds and four assists. But Antetokounmpo fouled out after just 25 minutes, scoring 14 points with six rebounds and three assists on 4-of-11 shooting. Mitchell finished with a game-high 22 points and 10 assists, recording his first double-double of the season. Pelle Larsson and Bobby Portis had 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Much of Saturday’s game looked like another where Miami was woefully unprepared. Charlotte was missing their two-best shot creators in Kon Knueppel and Coby White, yet they were still generating plenty of open looks through two-and-a-half quarters. The Hornets also finished with a 56-48 edge in the rebound battle and a 21-10 edge in second-chance points.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra did deploy second-round rookie Ryan Conwell in the third quarter, but his leash was quite short, as he played just 3:46 with three points and one bad defensive breakdown on a pick-and-pop, allowing a wide-open three. All eyes will be on Spoelstra until they figure this puzzle out, because the dog has already scooped a few of the pieces off the floor while destroying the box it came in.