Heat maintain sizzle in Powell's absence, stinging Hornets, 144-117, behind Jaquez's 28

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Oct 28, 2025

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MIAMI — Adversity? Nah, merely an opportunity for a Miami Heat team thriving amid its season-opening rendition of Operation Warp Speed.

Again playing at pace and in transition, Erik Spoelstra’s team, already playing in the post-surgical absence of Tyler Herro, this time also withstood the absence of leading scorer Norman Powell in a 144-117 victory Tuesday night over the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center.

With Herro still recovering from September ankle surgery, and with Powell sidelined by a groin issue aggravated earlier in the day, the Heat amid this 3-1 start showed they are stopping for nobody.

Instead, again off to the races in a game they scored 76 in the first half and were up to 105 points by the start of the fourth.

Next the competition stiffens, with a four-game western swing opening Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs that also will feature games against the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.

Already cruising at a tempo heretofore unseen in recent years, the Heat were led by 28 points from a resurgent Jaime Jaquez Jr., 26 from Bam Adebayo, as well as 21 from Andrew Wiggins and 17 from fill-in starter Pelle Larsson.

Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday night’s game:

— 1. Game flow: The Heat led 37-34 after the first quarter and 76-60 at halftime, tying for the fourth-highest scoring first half in the Heat’s 38 season.

It then got wobbly at the start of the third period, when the Hornets closed within three, but that’s when the Heat’s second unit again provided a spark, with the lead up to 105-88 going into the fourth quarter.

By the midpoint of the third quarter, the Heat had the game’s first 20-point lead, able to coast from there.

— 2. No Norm, no problem: The Heat’s leading scorer through the season’s first three games at 24 points per game, as the lone Heat player averaging at least 20, Powell hardly was missed in a rotation remix.

According to the Heat, Powell began experiencing soreness in his right groin at the morning shootaround, listed as questionable until about an hour prior to tipoff.

Forward Simone Fontecchio, who had been listed as questionable earlier with a sore left calf, was cleared to play about 90 minutes prior to tipoff and again played as a second-unit spark.

— 3. The remix: Rather than reshuffle the entire rotation, Spoelstra opted to move Larsson from a role that effectively had been as 10th man into the starting lineup.

Larsson responded with 12 first-half points and kept going from there.

He closed 6 of 10 from the field with five rebounds and three assists.

While the 2024 second-round pick out of Arizona had averaged only 5.3 minutes through the first three games, he had started eight games as a rookie last season.

— 4. Jaquez again: Spoelstra’s decision to go with Larsson as a starter left Jaquez in his now-familiar role as sixth man.

Playing in attack mode against a largely indifferent Hornets defense, Jaquez scored 20 points in the first half, including his first two 3-pointers of the season.

He had 26 points through three quarters, including 8 of 8 from the line, closing the night 9 of 14 from the field.

The Heat outscored the Hornets by 43 with Jaquez on the court.

— 5. Still stroking: Adebayo in the first quarter extended his career-best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 16, dating to last season, with a pair of conversions from beyond the arc in the opening period.

Adebayo’s 19th point, on a third-period dunk, gave him 9,000 for his career, joining Dwyane Wade (21,556), Alonzo Mourning (9,459) and Glen Rice (9,248) as the only Heat players at that level.

Adebayo closed 10 of 16 from the field, including 3 of 5 on 3-pointers.