MIAMI — Courtney Lee was steaming after missing a layup that would have given Charlotte the lead heading into the final minute.
His anger didn’t last long.
Miami’s will last for a while.
Lee’s 3-pointer with 25.2 seconds left — just his second make in nine tries from the floor — put the Hornets ahead to stay, and Charlotte beat the Heat 90-88 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Wednesday night.
The Hornets have won three straight in the series to take a 3-2 lead into a potential Game 6 clincher on Friday night.
“I felt I couldn’t make a shot,” Lee said, “but the biggest one went in.”
Miami thought Dwyane Wade was fouled after he got the rebound of a miss by Goran Dragic with 2.6 seconds left, and the Heat believed Luol Deng fouled Cody Zeller in an effort to send him to the line as time was running out.
Neither call came, and the Heat are on the brink of elimination.
“Look, it never is decided by those plays, but from my vantage point Dwyane certainly looked like he got fouled,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Asked if he had seen a replay, Spoelstra said, “I don’t need to. He got fouled.”
Wade was even more succinct.
“There’s no reason for me to look at it,” Wade said. “It ain’t going to change anything. I thought I did. It wasn’t called.”
Marvin Williams led the Hornets with 17 points, while Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker each had 14 for Charlotte — which got its first road playoff win in 14 years. Jeremy Lin added 11.
Wade scored 25 for Miami, while Deng had 15, Joe Johnson added 13 and Hassan Whiteside finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.