Hornets vs. Heat: Game 2 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs

The Charlotte Hornets may have had the ninth-ranked defense in the NBA during the regular season, but the Miami Heat didn't get the memo as they collected their second straight comfortable postseason win, 115-103, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference's first round Wednesday night from AmericanAirlines Arena.

Five different Miami players scored 15 or more points, led by Dwyane Wade's 28. Goran Dragic scored 18, while Hassan Whiteside added 17. Luol Deng came up with 16, and Josh Richardson had 15.

Miami has now won its last eight games at home. The last team that beat the Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena was the Hornets on March 17.

Charlotte, on the other hand, hasn't won a playoff game since basketball returned to the city in 2004. 

Nabbing a 2-0 series lead is a good omen for the Heat, per Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald:

Charlotte turned to Kemba Walker early. The 25-year-old scored seven straight points on his way to 19 in the first half. 

The Hornets showed his first basket of the game, which got him going:

He was the man Charlotte relied on as he took 29 shots on the night, making 12 of them on his way to a game-high 29 points.

Charlotte's best ally, though, was the charity stripe. The Hornets got to the line 14 times compared to once for Miami in the first quarter, and they headed into the second with a 29-29 tie. Charlotte went 26-of-33 on the night and made 11 more trips to the line than the Heat.

Sloppy play from Miami helped Charlotte stay in it, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel pointed out:

It was a much better starting performance than Game 1 on Sunday, when Charlotte trailed 41-22.

Al Jefferson took over in the second quarter for Charlotte, scoring 16 points against Whiteside, one of the better defenders in the game. 

ESPN's Tommy Tomlinson knew it was too easy for Jefferson, who wasn't forced to put the ball on the floor at all:

CBS Sports NBA provided a look at how Jefferson was doing during the quarter:

His efforts, though, just managed to keep the Hornets in the game as a balanced Miami attack saw the Heat outscore Charlotte 25-13 in the final four minutes, 45 seconds of the half to take a 72-60 lead. 

After putting up a franchise-record 123 points in Game 1, Miami was on pace to pass that mark Wednesday, impressing ESPN Radio's Robin Lundberg:

Keeping with the theme, the 72 points in a half were also a franchise record, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Miami shot 74.4 percent from the field in the first half alone, which provided reason to celebrate, via The Cauldron:

"

The Heat are shooting over 70% from the field right now pic.twitter.com/E0uw2D3hwl

— The Cauldron (ICYMI) (@CauldronICYMI) April 21, 2016"

Four Heat players achieved double-digit-scoring outputs in the game's first 24 minutes as they hit seven of 10 three-point attempts. 

An 8-of-30 effort from the field in the third quarter stalled the Hornets' comeback efforts, letting the Heat off the hook for putting up just 19 points in a meager follow-up to their 43-point second quarter. 

Charlotte attempted one more push and cut things to within single digits with under four minutes to play. With time winding down, though, and Charlotte desperate to stop the clock, Miami iced things at the free-throw line. 

With the way the Heat offense is playing, it looks like only an elite NBA defense could give Miami a run for its money given the excellent distribution of scoring. 

The Hornets just don't have the firepower or the composure to keep up with the Heat. A change in venue to Time Warner Cable Arena for Game 3 on Saturday might do the trick, but Charlotte will have to find a way to get Miami out of its comfort zone and slow things down to help it find a way to get back in the series.  

Post-Game Reaction

Up 2-0, Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about how he thinks his team should perform moving forward, via NBA TV:

It's unlikely that the offense will be that potent again, especially regrading Whiteside, who hit all eight of his field goals and his lone free throw attempt. 

He spoke about his night via Ethan J. Skolnick of the Miami Herald: "I feel like everything I threw up at the rim went in. I had maybe one or two dunks, but outside of that, it was jump hooks. It felt like everything was going in for me."

On Charlotte's side, head coach Steve Clifford was pleased with one half of his team's play, via Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports:

"

If we're going to get 103, we've got to win. For two games now, our offense has been more than good enough to win. We've got to find a way to be able to put together 48 good minutes of defense. If we can do that and stay low-turnover, we'll give ourselves a chance to win.

"

It will be difficult to do considering Miami is getting scoring from seemingly every position on the floor. If just one or two players were to go cold, then an opportunity could open up for the Hornets to snag a win or two. 

If they are able to play a similar offensive game in Game 3 on Saturday, the Hornets could feed off of the home crowd and see an improvement in defense, thus wearing the Heat down. Anything could happen after that.