Giannis Fouls Out as Hornets Beat Heat 115-110 for Miami's 0-3 Start

By Taki Panos

Two nights in a row Giannis Antetokounmpo carried the Miami Heat on his back. On the third night, the whistle took him out of the picture. The Charlotte Hornets beat the Heat 115-110 on Saturday at Spectrum Center, where Giannis finished with 14 points before fouling out with 1:57 left, as ESPN and the Miami Herald reported. Miami is now 0-3. The game tipped at 6:00 PM in Charlotte, which was 1:00 AM on Sunday in Athens, so a lot of fans in Greece woke up to news nobody wanted.

Quick context for anyone catching up. Giannis joined Miami this summer after his long run with the Milwaukee Bucks, a move we covered when the blockbuster trade sent him to the Heat. He opened the season with 35 points against Minnesota and then 36 points in a 128-111 loss to Detroit on Friday. Saturday was the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, less than a day after a home game. Not ideal, but Charlotte were tired too.

In fact, the Hornets looked like the ideal opponent for a first win. They had lost their home opener to Atlanta 128-81 on Friday, one of the worst defeats in franchise history according to ESPN, and they were missing two starters, Kon Knueppel and Coby White, both with hamstring strains, per the Herald and the official NBA box score. A sellout crowd of 19,611 showed up anyway. The two teams were also meeting for the first time since Charlotte's 127-126 overtime play-in win that ended Miami's 2025-26 season, ESPN noted.

The first quarter was even, 31-31, and then the night turned. Giannis picked up his third foul with 9:08 left in the second quarter, the Herald reported, on a call that NBA.com's recap described as overturned. He sat for the rest of the half. Before that he had been efficient, with 10 points on 2-of-3 shooting and 6-of-8 at the line in 11 minutes, per the Herald. Charlotte led 66-58 at halftime behind 10-of-22 shooting from three, according to NBA.com. Fair to say the Hornets did not look tired.

The third quarter is where Miami lost the game. Five Charlotte threes sparked a 24-7 run, ESPN reported, and the lead grew to 23 points, per the box score. Giannis scored just four points on 2-of-8 shooting with two turnovers in the period, the Herald wrote, as the Hornets packed the paint and dared Miami to shoot. He also picked up his fourth foul midway through the quarter, NBA.com noted. The Heat went into the fourth down 96-75, and the game looked finished.

Then came the best ten minutes of Miami's season, with Giannis on the bench. Erik Spoelstra went with Davion Mitchell, Tim Hardaway Jr., Pelle Larsson, Bobby Portis Jr. and Bam Adebayo, and that group opened the fourth quarter on a 25-4 run to tie the game at 100 with 5:42 left, per the Herald. They pressed full court, forced Charlotte deep into the shot clock and ran. Mitchell scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the quarter and finished with 10 assists, the Herald reported.

Giannis came back in with the score tied at 102 and about five minutes to play. The game was tied again at 104 before Grayson Allen hit a deep three while being fouled by Hardaway and made the free throw, a four-point play that put Charlotte back in front for good, as ESPN and the Herald both described. Giannis did not score in the fourth quarter and fouled out on a Dennis Schroder drive with 1:57 left, per NBA.com. Miami closed to within three late, but Allen's free throws sealed it.

His final line: 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 0-of-1 from three, 6-of-8 from the line, six rebounds, three assists, a steal and three turnovers in 24 minutes and 44 seconds, per the official box score. He was a minus-20, the worst mark on the team. For context, he had averaged 35.5 points in the first two games. Brandon Miller led Charlotte with 34 points, Schroder added 25, Naz Reid 23 and Allen 20. Adebayo had a season-high 20 for Miami and Larsson added 15, per ESPN.

Spoelstra was clearly unhappy with how Giannis was officiated. "He's a physical force with the ball in his hands, and whether defenders are protecting themselves from that force or not, that's a foul," he said, as the Herald reported. "I'm not making this game about the officials, so everybody else can just kick rocks about that. I'm just talking about the physicality that he endures every game, and then he's the one that fouled out. He doesn't foul out very much, but that's the tough part of officiating a player like him. That's like Shaq."

The numbers around the team are hard to ignore. This is Miami's first 0-3 start since 2007-08, the Herald noted, and only the fifth in franchise history. ESPN Research added that it is the first 0-3 start in Spoelstra's 19 seasons as head coach. The Heat have been outscored 165-108 from three-point range through three games, and Miami has been outscored by 28.6 points per 100 possessions in the 88 minutes Giannis has played, per the Herald. History is not kind either: only the 1990-91 Bulls started 0-3 and won the title.

My take: I would not read too much into Giannis's line on Saturday. Foul trouble on the second night of a back-to-back, against a defense that packed the paint, is a bad mix for anyone. What worries me more is that Miami's best stretch of the season came with him on the bench, and that the starting five keeps getting outscored. That is a fit problem, not a Giannis problem, and it is on Spoelstra to solve it. Davion Mitchell said after the game, per the Herald, "We're not in panic mode." Three games in, that sounds about right.

Next up, the Heat return home to host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday at 7:30 PM Eastern at Kaseya Center, which is 1:30 AM on Tuesday in Athens, per the Herald. If you are new to the Giannis story, our Giannis Antetokounmpo profile is a good place to start, and for more on Greek athletes around the world, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. Three games, zero wins. Monday would be a very good night to change that.

Sources: ESPN, Miami Herald, NBA.com, NBA official box score.

Image: Giannis Antetokounmpo at the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, photo by Erik Drost via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).