By Walter Villa, The Sports Xchange

MIAMI -- The Charlotte Hornets showed toughness on Friday night -- not that it surprised anyone in their locker-room.

"We've got a lot of tough guys," Hornets forward Marvin Williams said. "But I think everybody knew that already."

Hornets fans were given a refresher course on Friday night, when their team rallied from a 19-point third-quarter deficit to spoil the Miami Heat's home opener with a 97-91 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Charlotte point guard Kemba Walker had a game-high 24 points, including 15 in the second half, to lead the way.

But Walker credited the Hornets bench, which outscored Miami, 51-28.

"They were great," Walker said of Charlotte's reserves. "They made plays defensively, pushed the tempo. They gave us that extra boost and gave us starters that opportunity to go win the basketball game in the fourth quarter."

Indeed, the Hornets (2-0) never led in the first three quarters as the Heat (1-1) controlled the game. But Charlotte closed out the game with a 51-26 run.

The Hornets won despite getting dominated in a matchup between starting centers Roy Hibbert of Charlotte and Hassan Whiteside of Miami.

Hibbert played just four minutes – 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 blocks – before exiting due to soreness in his right knee.

"He was kind of dragging his knee around," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of Hibbert. "I didn't think it was a big deal (coming into the game), but he just couldn't get going."

Whiteside produced his second straight double-double of the season with 20 points and 15 rebounds in just 27 minutes.

He made 8 of 11 shots from the floor, but no other Heat player who put up at least three shots was able to convert at or above 50 percent.

Among the Heat starters who shot poorly were point guard Goran Dragic (4 of 12, 14 points); shooting guard Dion Waiters (5 of 16, 13 points) and small forward Justise Winslow (4 of 14, 10 points).

Another issue for the Heat was that they got outscored 46-28 in the paint. In Miami's season-opening win at the Orlando Magic, the Heat had an impressive 74 points in the paint.

Miami was held to 37.2-percent shooting. Charlotte made 38 percent of its shots.

"This is what we anticipated – two Eastern Conference defensive-minded teams slugging it out," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "(The Hornets) stepped up their defense and made it tough on us.

"We knew this was not a game we were going to get 80 (points) in the paint. (The Hornets) defend the paint as well as any team in the league."

The Heat, playing its first home game since parting ways with Dwyane Wade (Chicago Bulls) and Chris Bosh (illness), turned the ball over 20 times.

In the first quarter, Miami led by as many as nine points before the Hornets cut their deficit to 23-21. Whiteside had nine points and seven rebounds in the quarter and also got a bloody left elbow after he got tied up in the post with Hornets center Cody Zeller. Whiteside required four stitches to close the wound.

The Heat stretched their lead to 57-46 at halftime. The Hornets shot just 31.8 percent in the first half and had only four second-chance points, nine less than Miami in that category.

Miami closed the third period with a 77-73 lead thanks to a three-pointer by Tyler Johnson in the final minute as the Heat tried desperately to hold off Charlotte's run.

"I think we took our foot off the gas," Waiters said. "We got comfortable. We stopped doing what we did to get the lead – sharing the ball."

Then again, by taking a team-high 16 shots, Waiters was the biggest culprit in not sharing the ball.

But despite Miami's issues, there is no need to panic, Dragic said.

"We're a new team with a lot of new players," he said. "We need to go through this. Hopefully we will do better next time."

NOTES: Miami had its streak snapped of having won its home opener in each of the past eight years. ... The Heat were without SGs Josh Richardson (knee) and Wayne Ellington (quad) for the second straight game. ... The Hornets were without PF Frank Kaiminsky (foot) for the second straight game. ... Former Heat PF Amar'e Stoudemire will graduate on Tuesday from Miami Dade College's Auxiliary Police Academy. ... The Heat and Hornets are developing a rivalry. They split a four-game regular-season series last season and then went to seven games in a first-round playoff series before Miami prevailed. ... Charlotte plays its home opener on Saturday night against the Boston Celtics. ... Miami's homestand continues on Sunday night when the San Antonio Spurs visit.