CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jeremy Lin scored 18 points, Kemba Walker had 17 and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat 96-80 on Saturday night to snap a 12-game playoff losing streak and earn their first postseason victory in 14 years.
Rookie Frank Kaminsky, who got the starting nod, scored eight of his 15 points during an 18-0 run in the third quarter that broke open a 53-all game.
The Heat lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Monday night.
Marvin Williams, a non-factor in the first two games, had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.
Luol Deng scored 19 points on five 3-pointers, and Dwyane Wade added 17 for Miami. Hassan Whiteside had 13 points and 18 rebounds but battled foul trouble.
Miami, which shot 58 percent from the field in the first two games, was limited to 34 percent shooting.
The Hornets outscored the Heat 52-28 in the paint and had four turnovers to Miami’s 15.
Looking to combat the Heat’s height advantage on the perimeter, Hornets coach Steve Clifford moved Williams to small forward — in place of the injured Nicolas Batum — and inserted Kaminsky and Al Jefferson into the starting lineup.
It didn’t help early on.
Miami started off Game 3 similar to the previous two, with Deng hitting four 3-point attempts in the first six minutes for an early 20-15 lead.
But Charlotte withstood the early Heat assault and took the lead near the end of the first quarter behind eight points from Lin, who found his way to the basket repeatedly and drew a second foul on Whiteside.
Charlotte opened a 49-44 halftime lead after Miami cooled off significantly, shooting just 36.6 percent from the field. That was a remarkable turnaround from Game 2, when Miami shot 74.4 percent from the field in the opening half and scored 73 points.
Kaminsky gave the Hornets a spark in the third quarter with 11 points, including two spin moves against Wade and a turnaround jumper over Joe Johnson. Lin followed with a 3-pointer from the right wing to push the lead to 14, raising the fans clad in black “Enter the swarm” T-shirts and white Hornets headbands off their seats.
The Hornets would push the lead to 24 in the fourth quarter with Lin scoring and creating off the fast break.
Charlotte was 31-10 at home in the regular season.
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