Heat 99, Bobcats 88
LeBron James had 27 points and nine rebounds as host Miami knocked off Charlotte in the opener of the seven-game Eastern Conference playoff series.
Dwyane Wade scored 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting for the second-seeded Heat, who also host Wednesday’s Game 2. Chris Bosh added 13 points and James Jones scored 12 off the bench.
Al Jefferson had 18 points and 10 rebounds but was hampered while playing through a foot injury for the seventh-seeded Bobcats. Kemba Walker scored a team-best 20 points, Gary Neal added 17 off the bench and Josh McRoberts added 15 points.
The contest was tied at 59 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter before James scored eight points to help the Heat take a 72-65 lead into the final stanza, and the advantage reached 10 on Bosh’s basket with 9:34 remaining. Two baskets by Chris Andersen sandwiched around Wade’s 3-pointer boosted the lead to 87-70 with 6:22 left and the lead reached 20 on a 3-pointer by James with 4:31 to play.
Charlotte was up 21-14 when Jefferson injured his left foot with 2:10 left in the first quarter and he missed five minutes of action before returning and playing with a pronounced limp. Miami led 49-39 before Walker hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer and the Bobcats added the first 10 of the second half for a 52-49 lead with nine minutes left in the third quarter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Charlotte was uncharacteristically sloppy with 15 turnovers leading to 20 Miami points. … James made four 3-pointers as the Heat were 11-of-23 from behind the arc. … Jefferson made his first four shots before suffering the injury that was diagnosed as plantar fasciitis.