Terry Rozier, PJ Washington help Hornets rally past Heat 122-117

CHARLOTTE,N.C. (AP) — Terry Rozier scored 31 points, P.J. Washington had 27and the Charlotte Hornets stopped Miami’s three-game win streakwith a 122-117 victory over the Heat on Sunday.

LaMelo Ballscored 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as Charlotteimproved to 7-16 at home. Gordon Hayward was a perfect 7 of 7 fromthe field for 20 points.

Rozier alsohad seven assists and six rebounds. He was 11 for 19 from thefield, including a 5-for-11 performance from 3-point range. He madetwo buzzer-beater 3s at the end of quarters.

Jimmy Butlerscored 28 points for Miami, and Tyler Herro had 24.

The Hornets,who have been hampered by injuries all season, have won four of sixfor the team’s best stretch of the season. Washington believes it’sa reflection of the team getting healthier.

Charlotte’sprojected starting five to begin the season is finally back on thefloor and appears to be starting to mesh.

“Everybody isback and everybody is healthy — and that is a major difference,”Washington said. “At the end of the day we have to keep going theway we are right now.”

Hayward hasstruggled with shoulder and hamstring issues, limiting the team’shighest-paid player to just 24 games.

Sunday markedhis best game in months.

“He’s playingconfident and getting easy baskets and just bullying guys downlow,” Washington said. “He’s playing great basketball and I expectthat of him every night.”

Whether a nowhealthy Hornets team can make a playoff push remains to be seen,but coach Steve Clifford remains optimistic.

“Getting’Melo and Gordon back, obviously you’re a different team,” Cliffordsaid. “If we can get into playing set groups then we’ll have a goodchance to hopefully put some good stretches together. (It helps)when they know who they’re playing with and they know where theshots are coming from.”

The Heat led62-58 after Rozier banked in a 3 from the midcourt logo to closeout the first half.

Miami went ona 10-1 run to start the third quarter. Herro knocked down two3-pointers to help the Heat open a 13-point lead.

But Charlottecame storming back behind Washington and Rozier, who began knockingdown shots from deep.

Charlottepushed the lead to 12 with 5:54 left on a turnaround jumper byRozier.

Miami ralliedwith a 10-0 run. Kyle Lowry found Bam Adebayo inside for a layup tocut the lead to 108-106.

But Charlottehad another burst as Mason Plumlee got the ball after Rozier won ajump ball and drove to the basket for a score. Ball canned an open3-pointer to put Charlotte back up 114-106 with 1:50 left.

Washington’srebound and score off his own miss kept Charlotte up by seven andPlumlee dunked off a pass from Washington to put the game away inthe final minute.

Charlotteshot 54.2% from the field and scored 25 points in transition. TheHornets also outrebounded Miami 47-36.

“They havehad a lot of injuries but when they have been fully healthy, thisteam can score much different than their numbers may suggest forthe season,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We did not step updefensively, they got a lot of easy run-ups that quickly changedthe momentum of the game.”

TIP-INS

Heat: Adebayoscored 17 points, but he only had four rebounds.

Hornets:Plumlee entered the game shooting 76.5% from the field over hislast 20 games, the highest percentage by any player in any 20-gamespan since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976-77, per Stathead. ...Charlotte’s career leading scorer Kemba Walker attended thegame.

UPNEXT

Heat:Continue a four-game road trip Tuesday at Cleveland.

Hornets: Playfive of their next six games on the road beginning Tuesday atMilwaukee.