Miami hangs on after record 53-point first quarter to beat Charlotte

Miami opened Friday nighttime with a whirlwind, dropping a franchise-record 53 points successful the archetypal 4th connected the mode to a 126-108 triumph implicit Charlotte. The surge was the second-highest-scoring archetypal 4th successful NBA past and pushed the Heat up 64-38 with 9:20 near successful the second. We past watched the crippled flip: Charlotte stormed backmost with a 27-2 tally to trim it to 66-65. The Hornets ne'er took the lead, and Miami rebuilt power successful the 4th to seal it.

Norman Powell led the Heat with 25 points. Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points, and Pelle Larsson added 19 for Miami successful Friday’s win. The triumph came a time aft manager Erik Spoelstra’s location burned down, a sobering backdrop for a nighttime that inactive ended with handshakes and relief.

What the numbers accidental astir the outburst

The 53-point archetypal 4th tied for the ninth-highest-scoring 4th of the NBA’s shot-clock era. The lone archetypal 4th that tops it belongs to Golden State, which enactment up 55 against Portland connected April 9, 2023. For Miami, the people surpasses the club’s erstwhile single-quarter grounds of 48 (set successful the 4th against New York connected March 2, 1989) and the anterior first-quarter champion of 47 (at Washington connected Jan. 9, 2021).

The nighttime besides delivered a quirky split. Miami managed lone 19 points successful the 2nd quarter, becoming conscionable the 2nd squad successful the shot-clock epoch to people astatine slightest 50 successful 1 4th and neglect to scope 20 successful the adjacent wrong the aforesaid regular-season game. Memphis did the aforesaid connected March 5, 2023, successful a nonaccomplishment to the Clippers. We tin instrumentality from that plaything that Charlotte recovered its footing, yet Miami’s spacing and tempo reappeared erstwhile it mattered.

Nets wounded update changes the early-season picture

In Brooklyn, Cam Thomas volition beryllium reevaluated successful 3 to 4 weeks owed to a near hamstring strain suffered Wednesday against the Pacers, the Nets’ archetypal triumph of the season. He is averaging 21.4 points, 2nd connected the squad down Michael Porter Jr. Thomas, 24, signed a one-year, $6 cardinal qualifying connection this summertime that sets him up for unrestricted escaped bureau successful the offseason.