CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The injuries have meant doing it the hard way every night for the Miami Heat. When Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic can't make shots it just compounds the challenge.
That left the Heat in the unusual position in Thursday night's 91-82 loss to the Charlotte Hornets of ... Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson or bust.
With Winslow shooting 0-for-9, Dragic 2-for-11 and Hassan Whiteside closing with a pedestrian eight points and 10 rebounds, the Heat's road losing streak reached six as the overall record fell to 10-22, more lottery balls falling into the Heat's possession.
It wasn't for lack of trying from Richardson and Johnson. A game after tying his career high of 22 points, Richardson scored 20. Johnson sparked the Heat off the bench with 18 points.
But even on the second night of a back-to-back set, Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum had enough in response for the Hornets, with Walker closing with 22 points, and Batum with 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
The Heat moved within 85-81 with 3:14 to play on a Johnson basket, leading to a Charlotte timeout. The teams then traded free throws for an 82-82 Hornets lead. But Winslow then fell to 0 for 9, missing a runner in the lane with 1:54 to play, with Walker converted a 3-pointer 14 seconds later for an 89-82 Charlotte lead.
Dragic was back after missing Tuesday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder due to back spasms. That had Heat coach Erik Spoelstra rolling out his 12th starting lineup of the season, with Luke Babbitt back as the starting power forward in place of Derrick Williams.
The Hornets opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run and then put together an 11-0 run midway through the period, pushing to a nine-point lead, on the way to taking a 73-66 lead into the fourth.
Richardson kept the Heat afloat with 20 points going into the fourth quarter, a stage when Batum already was up to 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
The Hornets outscored the Heat 31-17 in the third period after outscoring the Orlando Magic 35-13 in the third quarter a night earlier.
With Richardson scoring all 13 of his first-half points in the second quarter, the Heat took a 49-42 lead into the intermission, after shooting 7-for-13 on 3-pointers in the first half.
It was an odd box score for the Heat at the break, with the Heat's offense over the first two periods paced by Richardson, Wayne Ellington and Luke Babbitt.
The Heat's early offense was limited to Babbitt's 3-for-3 shooting for seven points in the first quarter, with the rest of the Heat 5 of 16 in the opening period. That had the Hornets ahead 21-19 going into the second period.
The game opened a stretch of 8 of 9 on the road for the Heat, who complete this back-to-back set Friday night against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
The Heat lost the first meeting of the four-game season series 97-91 in their home opener on Oct. 28, when they blew a 19-point lead, outscored 51-34 in the second half.
The Hornets entered having won three of the previous four regular-season meetings, with the Heat ousting the Hornets 4-3 in the first round of last season's playoffs.
The Heat entered on a five-game road losing streak, with the Hornets entering on a four-game home winning streak.
The Heat caught the Hornets on the second night of a back-to-back set, coming off Wednesday's victory in Orlando, Fla.
