Miami

Hornets Sting Heat in Second Half

The Heat had a seven-point lead at the half on Thursday, but lost to Charlotte in the end

The Miami Heat blew a halftime lead in their 91-82 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.

Miami had a seven-point advantage when the teams headed into the locker room after the second quarter. Charlotte would open the second half on a strong run, and kept up the momentum for the remainder of the game. The loss was the third in a row for Miami and dropped the team's record to 10-23 on the season.

The Heat have now lost six of their last seven games. In a span that has extended over two weeks, Miami has only won twice. The downward spiral for Miami has put it into 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Only the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers sit below Miami in the East.

Josh Richardson continued his strong recent run with 20 more points. Richardson has shined for Miami lately with Goran Dragic unavailable. Dragic returned in this one, but showed some rust with only five points on 2-10 shooting.

Hassan Whiteside missed out on a double-double for a second straight game. Whiteside has made double-doubles look easy this season, but is in a bit of a slump as of late. After failing to record enough rebounds last game, it was points that led to trouble for the center in this one. Whiteside finished the evening with eight points and ten rebounds.

Tyler Johnson was solid off the bench once again with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes.

Miami will play again on Friday when it travels to Boston to take on the Celtics at 7:30 p.m.

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