Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball lead Hornets to wild play-in win over Heat

In the final seconds, the Hornets delivered again in the clutch, without needing the three-ball. Ball drove for a go-ahead layup, while the Heat declined to use their foul to give. When Davion Mitchell sprinted down the floor, Bridges delivered his third block of the game to preserve the one-point win.

Unlikely players shot the lights out in play-in game

The Hornets got a huge boost when White caught fire at the end of the third quarter. In the last four minutes, White scored 14 points and sank four three-pointers (he finished 5-for-8), beating the buzzer to give the Hornets a six-point lead after three quarters.

Bridges was the bigger surprise. The 33 percent outside shooter went 5-of-10 Tuesday, joining Miller with five threes. That made up for some shockingly bad shooting from NBA three-point leader Kon Knueppel (2-of-12 overall, 0-of-6 on threes) and Ball, who missed 14 of his 16 attempts from deep.

For the Heat, Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins averaged 24.7 points combined this season, but combined for 55 Tuesday with Bam Adebayo out with an injury after Ball tripped him. The Heat made 39 percent of their threes to the Hornets' 32 percent, which was almost enough before White's heroics.

The hot shooting made the end of the game wildly exciting, but it was Charlotte's 25 second-chance points and the defense of Bridges that finally slammed the door. The Hornets will hope they stay hot — and Ball and Knueppel heat up — if they're going to land the eight seed on Friday.