CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Hornets know the numbers about their fourth-quarter defense and how they are a source of frustration.

There were no complaints on Thursday night, though, as the Hornets were excellent defensively down the stretch in a 91-82 victory over the Miami Heat at the Spectrum Center.

The Hornets limited the Heat to 16 fourth-quarter points, and as a result they were able to win their second game in two nights and their fifth in the last six games.

The Heat were a combined 6 for 23 from the field (26.1 percent) and just 2 of 10 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.

"To be honest, our defense has let us down in the fourth quarter this season," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "Coming into tonight we were seventh in (the NBA) in defense, but in the fourth quarter of games we're 23rd. We've lost five games where we've either been ahead or tied, and we've given up 37, 32 twice, 30 and 29 in the fourth, so it's been a problem. But tonight it was much better. Tonight we did a good job with that.

"This was a good win for us. They are a very athletic, attacking team, so there are some good things and we'll try to build on it. That's five out of six, and we're playing better."

Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 22 points, and Nicolas Batum narrowly missed his second triple-double in less than a week with 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Batum also had three steals and one blocked shot.

Walker, too, preferred to talk about the defensive effort afterward.

"We've been really conscious of being better defensively," Walker said. "We've been struggling. We've been really inconsistent. We're trying our best to get back to who we are.

"When we're at our best, we're a team that plays really good defense as a group. We communicate, we're always in the right spot, we don't miss our rotations. That's how we want to be each and every night."

The Hornets (19-14) are back to five games over .500, their high-water mark of the season.

` They trailed 49-42 at halftime, but scored the first eight points of the second half and went on to outscore the Heat 31-17 in the third quarter. That was similar to their third-quarter explosion in a 120-101 win at Orlando on Wednesday when they outscored the Magic 35-13.

The defense was needed because the Hornets finished shooting just 38.7 percent from the field.

"It was a rough night shooting," said Walker, who was 8 of 20 from the field but hit a clutch 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining for an 89-82 lead. "That's all I can say. I thought we got great shots and really moved the basketball, we just missed. But we stuck with the game, which is most important, and we made the plays when necessary."

The Hornets also got 13 points from Marvin Williams and 10 from Jeremy Lamb.

The Heat (10-23) have now lost three straight.

Josh Richardson led the Heat with 20 points. Tyler Johnson scored 18 off the bench, and Wayne Ellington scored 12. But leading scorer Goran Dragic was just 2 for 11 for five points in his first game back from a back injury, and Justise Winslow was 0 for 9 from the field for one point.

The Heat committed 17 turnovers that the Hornets converted into 21 points.

"There were some good things when we weren't turning the ball over," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "So if that's more in the 10 or 12 turnover range then you would like to see what the rest of the offense would have looked like. They are a very good, well-schooled, veteran experienced defensive team, so you're not going to score 130 points against them. We wanted to make it a possession game going down the stretch, but the turnovers just made it too tough."

"They're a good defensive team, no doubt about it," Tyler Johnson said. "But I don't think it was anything they were doing specifically. I think we just started to get a little hesitant, which we tend to do a little bit at the end of games instead of just playing how we've been playing."

NOTES: The Hornets won the only previous meeting this season, 97-91 at Miami on Oct. 28. The teams will play two more times. ... The Heat were without F Josh McRoberts (fractured foot) and G Dion Waiters (pectineus tear). ... The Hornets were without G Marco Belinelli (sprained ankle). But C Cody Zeller played despite a cut on his hand suffered in a 120-101 win at Orlando on Wednesday. ... Heat coach Erik Spoelstra used his 12th different starting lineup of the season. ... Heat F Justise Winslow and Hornets F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were often matched up against each other and they combined to go 2 of 16 from the field in a horrid shooting display. ... The Hornets have committed the fewest fouls in the NBA, averaging 16.6, and they have not had a player foul out all season. They were called for only 11 fouls on Thursday. ... The Hornets are now 3-4 on the second night of back-to-backs. ... The Heat will play at Boston on Friday. The Hornets will host Cleveland on Saturday night.