NBA Playoffs: Heat vs. Hornets Game 3 recap, full highlights

The Hornets enjoyed playing at home in the NBA Playoffs, picking up their first win of the series over the Heat

Things legitimately looked relatively bleak for the Charlotte Hornets coming into Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first round series int he 2016 NBA Playoffs against the Miami Heat. Not only had the Heat been absolutely tearing it up through the first two games of the series to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the series, but the Hornets also lost one of their key pieces in Nicolas Batum to an ankle injury. However, that ultimately didn’t matter for the Hornets on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 from Time Warner Cable Arena.

Some of the bigger storylines in this series coming into Game 3 that helped the Heat jump out to a 2-0 series lead over the Hornets had been Miami’s inability to miss shots even against quality defense, the ineffectiveness of Marvin Williams and Frank Kaminsky for the Hornets, and the inability to remotely slow down Hassan Whiteside on the interior. All of those scripts flipped on Saturday, though.

Though the rookie Kaminsky struggled early on as the Hornets hung on to a slight lead, he really came on strong as the Hornets went on a huge run in the third quarter to pull away from the Heat in a major way. While Williams wasn’t phenomenal, he contributed more than he had throughout the series up to this point as well. In addition, Jeremy Lin and Kemba Walker in the backcourt were phenomenal from start to finish for the Hornets on both ends of the floor with Lin playing an integral part in seemingly every big run for Charlotte.

After that big run in the final period, the Hornets were essentially able to coast once the fourth quarter began as they turned the ball over only three times for the entire game in addition to forcing the Heat into shooting just over 30 percent on the night from the field. They picked up a much needed win at home to move the series to 2-1 and stay wholly alive moving forward. Moreover, they picked up their first franchise playoff win since 2002, a big monkey off their back moving forward.

Three Stars

Jeremy Lin, Hornets – 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal

Frank Kamisky III, Hornets –15 points, six rebounds, one steal, one assist, one block

Luol Deng, Heat – 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists

Highlights

"Justise brings it down then flips back to the trailing shooter.."

Next Game

Game 4 between the Heat and the Hornets will go down in Charlotte on Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m. ET.

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