MIAMI — Norman Powell scored 25 points, and the Miami Heat enjoyed a record-setting first quarter on the way to a 126-108 victory over the Charlotte Hornets in an NBA Cup game Friday night, giving coach Erik Spoelstra a win a day after his home burned down.
Miami scored a franchise-record 53 points in the first quarter — the second-highest-scoring first quarter in NBA history — and led 64-38 with 9:20 left in the second quarter.
Barely seven minutes later, it was 66-65 after Charlotte went on a 27-2 run. But the Hornets never led, and the Heat pulled away in the fourth.
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The Heat managed only 19 points in the second quarter. They became the second team in the NBA’s shot-clock era, which started in 1954, to score at least 50 in one quarter and then fail to score 20 in the next quarter of the same regular-season game. Memphis also did it March 5, 2023, in a loss to the LA Clippers.
The previous Heat record for points in a quarter was 48, in the fourth quarter against New York on March 2, 1989. The previous first-quarter Heat record was 47 at Washington on Jan. 9, 2021.
The 53-point outburst tied for the ninth-highest-scoring quarter in the NBA’s shot-clock era, including playoff games.
The NBA record for most points in a first quarter is held by Golden State, which scored 55 in the first 12 minutes against Portland on April 9, 2023.
Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points, and Pelle Larsson added 19 for Miami in Friday’s win.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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