Hornets 109, Heat 106
MIAMI -- Kemba Walker had 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Charlotte Hornets rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat the Miami Heat 109-106 on Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Al Jefferson added 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Hornets broke a 12-game losing streak in games at Miami.
Leading 105-102, the Hornets' Marvin Williams missed two free throws with 15.6 seconds left, giving Miami an opportunity. But Charlotte's Jeremy Lin made four straight free throws in the final seconds.
Miami's Dwyane Wade had a chance to send the game to overtime but missed a 3-point try at the buzzer.
Wade, who has made just seven 3-pointers all season and is shooting 19 percent from distance, was an unlikely candidate to shoot that shot especially on a night in which he was playing with a bruised thigh and had only nine points on 3 of 13 accuracy.
Charlotte (39-29) tied the Heat (39-29) in the Eastern Conference standings, and the teams also finished their season series knotted at 2-2.
The Hornets prevailed largely due to their three-point shooting. The Hornets made 13 of 26 from distance.
Miami was led by Luol Deng, who had 22 points and nine rebounds but left the game with a bloody mouth after colliding with Lin in the final seconds.
The Heat's Goran Dragic added 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Heat reserve center Hassan Whiteside had 17 points and seven rebounds. His streak of double-digit-rebound games off the bench was snapped at 13.
Miami outshot Charlotte 54.5 percent to 41.7 percent in the first quarter. Yet the Heat led just 29-26 due to the Hornets' accuracy on 3-pointers, making 5-of-5 before missing a buzzer-beater at the end of the quarter.
The Heat started the second period on a 16-4 run. But the Hornets battled back to take a 54-52 halftime lead. The Hornets closed the half on a 9-0 run.
Charlotte extended its lead to 82-73 after three quarters and held on in the fourth.
NOTES: Heat rookie G Josh Richardson has made amazing improvement in his 3-point shooting, converting 62.9 percent (22 of 35) in 14 previous games entering Thursday. Before his current stretch, he was shooting just 20.8 percent (5 of 24). ... Miami's Luol Deng averaged 17.5 points and 9.2 rebounds in his first 14 games at power forward. Those numbers would rank fifth in the NBA among power forwards had he done that all season. ... Hornets G Kemba Walker is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.8 points and leading Charlotte to a 4-0 record. ... Charlotte added G Courtney Lee since the last time it played Miami, a 98-95 loss on Feb. 5. But the Heat also made an addition since then with SF Joe Johnson. ... Charlotte returns home to face the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Miami completes its three-game homestand on Saturday against the Cleveland Cavaliers and former Heat star LeBron James.