NBA Playoffs: Heat vs. Hornets Game 5 recap, full highlights

The Hornets picked up the first road win of the series against the Heat to go up 3-2

After the Miami Heat took the first two games of their Eastern Conference first round series against the Charlotte Hornets in the 2016 NBA Playoffs, the No. 3 seed seemed firmly in control. As the series shifted to Charlotte, though, that changed as the Hornets then picked up two wins over the Heat to tie things up at 2-2. That led everyone to Wednesday night back in AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami with both teams feeling like the momentum in this series was up for grabs.

For the first time in the series really, the road team in the Hornets looked in control of the game early on in the action as they jumped out to a solid lead early in the first half, largely thanks to great defense on the part of Charlotte. However, the home team Heat started knocking down some shots and were able to all but even things up going into halftime.

While Kemba Walker struggled in the Hornets backcourt, Dwyane Wade came to play for the Heat on Wednesday as he was ready to fill it up. Meanwhile, Charlotte was taking a more even approach to attacking as Jeremy Lin, Marvin Williams, and even a struggling Kemba all coming up big at various points throughout the night.

All of this led to things being incredibly tight down the stretch as the Heat were up by just one point with a a minute left to play and after the Hornets may have been on the wrong end of some questionable calls by the home refs. Even still, there was plenty of time for Walker to try and play hero, but his little step-back jumper on the left wing missed. However, Courtney Lee swooped in to keep the play alive, jumped out to the perimeter, and then knocked down a massive three to give the Hornets a 90-88 lead with 25.2 seconds left on the clock.

Miami still had one more big possession left with the home crowd behind them, but it went quite poorly for the Heat. The Hornets played stifling defense as they almost forced a Joe Johnson turnover, blocked a Goran Dragic shot, and blocked a Wade shot to regain possession and force the Heat to foul with only 2.6 seconds left. The drama wasn’t done there, though.

On the inbounds play as Miami wasn’t over the limit with the foul, Spencer Hawes made a terrible pass and the Heat were able to get a hand on it and muck things up. After a long-ish review, it was called Hornets ball with 2.3 ticks left on the clock. He got the ball in to Cody Zeller and the Heat oddly didn’t foul him as time ran out and Charlotte went up 3-2 in the series heading back home to try and close it out.

Three Stars

Dwyane Wade, Heat – 25 points, five rebounds, four assists

Marvin Williams, Hornets – 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals

Jeremy Lin, Hornets – 11 points, seven assists, six rebounds

Highlights

"Spencer Hawes says NO NO NO!"

Next Game

Game 6 between the Heat and Hornets will take place back in Charlotte on Friday night as these two evenly matched teams continue to do battle and as the Hornets try to close out the series.

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