"Nothing came easy tonight because of the Heat and their defensive intensity and defensive emphasis. Nothing came easy for us other than a few small spurts," Hornets coach Jeff Bower said.

Like Wade, New Orleans had foul problems as well.

West, Emeka Okafor and Devin Brown watched from the bench for nearly 7 minutes with two fouls apiece in the first quarter for New Orleans, but Thornton provided a lift. He had 15 of the Hornets' 18 points in a 3-minute stretch in the first half.

Then Miami started rolling, a 14-5 run fueled by a 3-pointer from James Jones and two jumpers from Wade to go into the second half with a 59-52 lead.

Notes

Richardson remained sidelined with a lower back strain for Miami. Haslem returned after a two-game absence because of a aching left shoulder. ... Collison, who played for UCLA last season, said he doesn't mind having former USC coach Tim Floyd on board. "I knew what he was capable of. If there was one school that probably gave me more problems guarding me defensively, it would probably be USC. So I know his defensive schemes are on point," Collison said.