LaMelo Ball Hit the Game-Winner, Miles Bridges Swatted the Buzzer-Beater, and the Hornets Sent Miami Home in Overtime
Man, where do you even start with this one.
The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime on the opening night of the NBA Play-In Tournament, and it was absolute madness from start to finish. LaMelo Ball dropped 30 points and 10 assists, hit the go-ahead layup with 4.7 seconds left in OT, and then Miles Bridges chased down Davion Mitchell at the buzzer and blocked his layup to end it. Ball flexed at midcourt. The building went crazy. Miami’s season is done.
This Game Had Everything
Charlotte was up five with 26 seconds left in overtime after Ball drove the right side and finished a leaning layup. Game over, right? Nah. Tyler Herro — because of course it was Herro — hit a wild, twisting corner three to cut it to two. Then Ball turned it over in the backcourt and fouled Herro on a three-point attempt. Herro knocked down all three free throws. Just like that, Miami had a 126-125 lead with 8.7 seconds left. The whole building went quiet.
Then Ball brought it up, drove right, and hit a leaning right-handed layup with 4.7 ticks on the clock. Charlotte back up one. Miami had no timeouts, so they just pushed the ball. Mitchell got the ball in transition and went up for a layup at the rim — and Bridges came out of nowhere to block it at the buzzer. Game over for real this time.
That’s the first game-winning bucket in the final 10 seconds of any Play-In Tournament game in history. LaMelo made history and looked good doing it.
Coby White Was Ridiculous Too
Don’t sleep on Coby White, who scored 19 points and kept the Hornets alive with some of the wildest threes you’ll ever see. He banked in one from the corner. He hit an off-balance turnaround with the shot clock winding down. He nailed a three at the top of the key to tie it when Miami had a 102-95 lead in the fourth. Without White, this game never makes it to overtime.
Miles Bridges had 28 points and nine boards on top of the block heard ’round the world. Charlotte’s Big Three showed up when it counted most.
Miami’s Tough Night Got Tougher
The Heat lost Bam Adebayo early in the second quarter when LaMelo Ball tripped him going after a loose ball, causing Bam to land hard on his back and tailbone. He went to the locker room and never came back. No foul was called on the play, and it wasn’t reviewed — which had a lot of people heated on social media.
Davion Mitchell led Miami with 28 points, Andrew Wiggins had 27, and Herro had 23 including that ridiculous OT sequence. Miami fought hard without Bam, but in the end it wasn’t enough. The Heat’s season is over — their fourth straight Play-In appearance that ended with nothing to show for it.
Charlotte moves on to Friday night, where they’ll face the loser of Wednesday’s Sixers-Magic game with the 8-seed on the line. The Hornets haven’t won a postseason home game in a decade. They just got one in the most chaotic way possible.
