MIAMI – Jimmy Butler scored 32 points; Bam Adebayo had 26 points and 19 rebounds as the Miami Heat held on late to beat the Charlotte Hornets 114-99.
Tyler Herro scored 26 points off the bench for Miami, which wasted most of a 26-point first-half lead. Duncan Robinson added 10 for Miami. The Heat outrebounded Charlotte 60-37, and held the Hornets to 39 per cent shooting.
“The IQ level of this team is very high,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have experienced, savvy guys, but guys who can read situations in real time. That matters in this league.”
Gordon Hayward scored 23 points and Miles Bridges had 22 for Charlotte. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 17 points and Cody Martin had 15 for the Hornets, while LaMelo Ball struggled through a 2-for-14 night from the floor.
“It’s one of 82. We’ll learn from it. We’ll respond,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “I saw a lot of fight tonight.”
Miami was 190-1 over the last 25 seasons in games where it led by at least 26 points. The only 26-point lead that was blown by the Heat in that span was one at Boston in a regular-season finale in April 2016.
The record is 191-1 now, though it didn’t come easily. “I thought at the end of the half, we lost our intensity,” Adebayo said. “And then we picked it up again in the second half.”
Charlotte whittled what had been a 26-point hole down to just an 84-75 deficit going into the fourth, and then clawed within six points early in the fourth. But a 7-0 Heat spurt made it 95-82, and Miami kept control the rest of the way.
Elsewhere, LeBron James scored 26 points, Carmelo Anthony added 24 while hitting six 3-pointers, and the Lakers snapped the Cleveland Cavaliers’ three-game winning streak with a 113-101 victory.
James and Anthony took control down the stretch of the Lakers’ third win in four games, with Anthony hitting three 3-pointers to the increasingly raucous cheers of his new fans at Staples Center.
James missed nine of his 10 3-point attempts, but had eight assists against his former team in his return from a two-game absence with a sore right ankle.
Anthony is “a threat,” according to James, who improved to 16-1 in his career against the Cavaliers.
“He’s a sniper,” James added. “One of those guys that doesn’t need much air space to get it off because it’s a quick trigger.”
Anthony has led the Lakers’ bench in scoring in five of his six games with his new team.
Russell Westbrook had 19 points and Anthony Davis added 15 for the Lakers, who showed signs of emerging from their rocky start to the season. Their markedly improved defensive effort in the second half led to the offense’s success.
“I think we´ve been doing a solid job,” Westbrook said. “Everybody on the outside looking in wants things to click immediately, but that´s not realistic. We´ll keep our swag up, keep our spirits high regardless of what´s happening.”
Rookie Evan Mobley scored 23 points and Darius Garland had 18 points and 11 assists in the third stop on Cleveland’s five-game road trip.
Ricky Rubio scored 18 points and Lauri Markkanen added 17, but the Cavs struggled while the Lakers pulled away in the fourth quarter, missing 12 of their first 14 shots and going nearly six minutes between field goals. Cleveland got outscored 25-16 in the fourth.
