Heat Shuts Down Hornets

The Miami Heat won an old-fashioned, grind-it-out defensive battle, and coach Pat Riley liked what he saw.

Alonzo Mourning scored 26 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and had six blocks as the Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets 76-70 Thursday night for their season-high fifth straight win.

"This was what I like to characterize as a big-muscle game," Riley said. "Charlotte had a big front line and we went with our big front line. It sort of reminded me of the way we used to be as a defensive team."

One game after putting on an impressive offensive display in a 11-85 rout of Cleveland on Tuesday, Miami shot only 41.9 percent from the field against against Charlotte.

"It was an ugly game for both teams offensively. A 76-70 game isn't a barn-burner," Miami's Dan Majerle said. "It was an old-fashioned win for us. It was ugly, but we'll take them any way we can."

Charlotte had its seven-game winning streak snapped and dropped into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings, one-half game behind Philadelphia.

"This shows that we can win a variety of ways," Miami forward P.J. Brown said. "That's part of being a good team. When we play hard the way we did, good things are going to happen."

Charlotte's Eddie Jones missed his first nine shots and finished 2-of-15 from the floor. He didn't scor his first basket until there were 47 seconds left in the third quarter and wound up with 12 points, 8.5 below his average.

Jones was 0-for-6 from 3-point range.

"A lot of us missed open shots tonight," Jones said. "I can't remember when I had so many open 3-point looks and missed them."

The Heat, who have won 18 of 19 at home, led 41-34 at the half behind Mourning's 10 points.

The teams combined for 28 points in the third period, after which Miami led 54-49.

Mourning gave the Heat a 71-59 lead with 2:50 remaining, but the Hornets closed to within 71-65 with 1:37 left on Jones' second field goal. Another Mourning basket gave Miami a 73-65 lead with 1:18 left, sealing the win.

The win kept Miami two games ahead of the New York Knicks in the Atlantic Division with eight games left for each team. The two teams play Sunday in Miami.

"The heart and effort is there and we're playing a lot harder than before," Brown said. "We didn't have one of our best offensive games, but with everything being so crucial right now in the standings, we'll take what we can get."

Anthony Mason led Charlotte with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

"We have to learn how to prepare for battle," Hornets coach Paul Silas said. "That's what that club over there has done."

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