Watch Game 3 NBA Playoffs 2016 online

The Heat have averaged 119 points in the first two games of the series, which shifts to Charlotte for Game 3 on Saturday night.

“I feel like, me personally, I don’t think he’ll be able to come back” for the rest of this playoff series, Jefferson said.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing to see was how Whiteside responded to the early adversity. When the 2006 NBA Finals MVP saw Jeremy Lin on him in the first quarter, Wade drove straight to the basket for an and-one.

“He’s making progress. We love it”. “I know how good the big fella is…he has to continue to play that way for us to have a chance”. “As we move onto Charlotte, we can’t just bank down on our offense”. But it was the Heat who was able to steal the spotlight and cover the star play with teamwork. Don’t expect them to repeat that performance, but Miami did make it hard for them tonight.

Jefferson’s post-game may have kept Charlotte in the game, but it went against their offensive identity.

The game was tied midway through the second quarter, and that’s when Miami took off. Wade led the Heat with nine points in the first quarter. For a team that ranked as one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the regular season, Miami shot 9-16 (56.2 percent) tonight. Batum got tangled up with Boston’s Amir Johnson early in the third quarter.

Four players achieved double-digit-scoring outputs in just 24 minutes as they hit seven of 10 three-point attempts. This sets a Miami Heat franchise record for the most points scored in the first half of any playoff game. Not only did he score 17 points, but was the primary defender on Paul George, and limited the Pacers star to 6-of-19-shooting in the 101-85 win.

Whiteside added 13 rebounds and two blocks, and Goran Dragic scored 18 points and Josh Richardson scored 15.

For Charlotte, Walker led all scorers with 29 points and five rebounds.

The Charlotte Hornets were led by Kemba Walker who scored 29 points and Al Jefferson added 25 points off the bench. Apart from those two guys, the Hornets got very little help elsewhere.

Batum rolled his foot with 10:43 left in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s 115-103 loss at AmericanAirlines Arena, immediately taken to the locker room.

The injury occurred when Batum stepped awkwardly while backing down Heat rookie Justise Winslow.

At some point, the Hornets will need to pull out at least one victory in Miami if they want to notch their first postseason series win in 14 years but right now, the immediate concern is an essential do-or-die Game 3 in Charlotte on Saturday evening.