Hornets win in OT
Charlotte beat Miami in overtime after LaMelo Ball hit the go‑ahead bucket and Mikal Bridges made a game‑sealing block, giving the Hornets a shot at the East 8‑seed Friday. ( ) The game is already being replayed as single‑moment highlight clips across social platforms. (youtube.com)
Charlotte is still alive after a 127-126 overtime win over Miami on Tuesday, with LaMelo Ball scoring the last Hornets basket and Miles Bridges blocking Davion Mitchell at the buzzer. (apnews.com) Ball finished with 30 points and 10 assists, Bridges added 28 points and nine rebounds, and Coby White scored 19 off the bench for Charlotte. White forced overtime with a turnaround 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds left in regulation. (espn.com) Miami led 126-125 with 8.7 seconds left in overtime after Tyler Herro made three free throws, but Ball answered with a driving layup with 4.7 seconds remaining. Mitchell then pushed the ball the length of the floor without a timeout, and Bridges erased the final shot at the rim. (espn.com) The result moved the ninth-seeded Hornets into the final step of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. Under the National Basketball Association format, the 9-versus-10 winner faces the loser of the 7-versus-8 game for the conference’s eighth playoff seed. (nba.com) Charlotte now goes on the road Friday, April 17, to play the loser of Wednesday’s Philadelphia 76ers-Orlando Magic game for the East’s last playoff berth. Miami’s season ended Tuesday night because the 9-versus-10 game is single elimination. (espn.com) For Charlotte, the stakes are larger than one finish. The franchise is trying to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and the team said before Tuesday’s game that one more win would end the National Basketball Association’s longest active playoff drought. (nba.com) The game turned sharply after Miami lost Bam Adebayo to a lower back injury in the second quarter. Erik Spoelstra said after the game that Ball “should have been thrown out,” while Ball said he was unaware of the play that injured Adebayo. (espn.com) Miami still had enough offense to stay in front deep into the fourth quarter. Davion Mitchell scored 28 points, Andrew Wiggins had 27, Tyler Herro added 23, and Kel’el Ware finished with 19 rebounds and five blocks in 42 minutes. (nba.com) The Hornets also won their first postseason home game in a decade, according to the Associated Press version of the game recap carried by ESPN. By late Tuesday, the ending was already circulating as short highlight clips from league and broadcast accounts. (espn.com) Friday’s game now decides whether Charlotte’s season becomes a playoff return or stays a one-night escape. Tuesday gave the Hornets one more chance. (nba.com)
