Jaime Jaquez Jr. scores 28 points to spark high-scoring Heat in 144-117 win over Hornets

MIAMI (AP) — Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 20 of his 28 points in the first half to keep up his hot-shooting start to the season, and the high-scoring Miami Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets 144-117 on Tuesday night.

Bam Adebayo had 26 points and Andrew Wiggins added 21 for the Heat, who won their third straight game after losing the season opener to Orlando. They played without leading scorer Norman Powell, who had 29 points in the win over New York on Sunday and was scratched because of a groin injury he felt during the morning shootaround.

Jaquez led the Heat to a 58-33 advantage in bench points, going 9 for 14 from the floor while posting a plus-43 rating. The third-year guard, drafted with the 18th pick by the Heat in 2023, is shooting 69% through four games (31 for 45). The Heat, who were just 24th in the NBA last season in scoring, are averaging 132 points.

Pelle Larsson started in place of Powell and pitched in 17 points and five rebounds for the Heat, who closed the first half on an 11-0 run over the final 3:13 to take a 76-60 lead. After the Hornets pulled within three, the Heat used a 23-7 surge that stretched into the fourth quarter to retake control.

LaMelo Ball, who had a triple-double for the Hornets in the previous game in a win over Washington, had 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and rookie Kon Knueppel added 19 points. The Hornets played for the second straight game without starting forward Brandon Miller, who suffered a shoulder injury on Saturday at Philadelphia. Miller missed 55 games last season after wrist surgery.

Hornets: Host Orlando on Thursday.

Heat: Visit San Antonio on Thursday to start a four-game road trip.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) dribbles past Charlotte Hornets guard Lamelo Ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

Charlotte Hornets coach Charles Lee talks to LaMelo Ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

Charlotte Hornets guard Lamelo Ball (1) shoots over Miami Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

Miami Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) picks up the ball in front of Charlotte Hornets center Ryan Kalkbrenner (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

If Indiana Republican senators had any doubt about what to do with President Donald Trump's redistricting proposal, he helped them make up their minds the night before this week's vote.

In a social media screed, Trump accused the state's top senator of being “a bad guy, or a very stupid one."

“That kind of language doesn’t help,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, a banker and lawyer from near Fort Wayne who voted against the plan.

He was among 21 Republican senators who dealt Trump one of the most significant political defeats of his second term by voting down redistricting in Indiana. The decision undermined the president's national campaign to redraw congressional maps to boost his party's chances in the upcoming midterm elections.

In interviews after Thursday's vote, several Republican senators said they were leaning against the plan from the start because their constituents didn't like it. But in a Midwest nice rebuttal to America's increasingly coarse political discourse, some said they simply didn't like the president's tone, like when he called senators “suckers.”

“I mean, that’s pretty nasty,” said Sen. Jean Leising, a farm owner from Oldenburg who works at her daughter’s travel agency.

Trump didn't seem to get the message. Asked about the vote Thursday, the president once again took aim at Indiana's top senator, Rodric Bray.

“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is," Trump said. "I hope he does, because he’s done a tremendous disservice.”

Sen. Sue Glick, an attorney from La Grange who also opposed redistricting, brushed off Trump's threat to unseat lawmakers who defied him.

“I would think he would have better things to do,” she said. “It would be money better spent electing the individuals he wants to represent his agenda in Congress.”

The president tried to brush off the defeat, telling reporters he “wasn’t working on it very hard."

But the White House had spent months engaged in what Republican Sen. Andy Zay described as “a full-court press.”

Vice President JD Vance met with senators twice in Indiana and once in Washington. White House aides frequently checked in over the phone.

Holdman said the message behind the scenes was often more soothing than Trump's social media attacks.

“We were getting mixed messages," he said. “Two days before the vote, they wanted to declare a truce on Sen. Bray. And the next day, there’s a post on Truth Social that didn’t sound like truce language to me.”

Some of Trump's other comments caused backlash too. For example, he described Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as “retarded,” which upset Sen. Mike Bohacek because his daughter has Down syndrome. Bohacek had been skeptical of redistricting and decided to vote no in response.

The White House did not respond to questions about outreach to senators, but it distanced itself from conservative allies who claimed Trump had threatened to withhold money from the state.

"President Trump loves the great state of Indiana," said spokesman Davis Ingle, who insisted Trump "has never threatened to cut federal funding and it’s 100% fake news to claim otherwise.”

Regardless, Trump had struggled to get traction despite months of pressure.

Holdman said he turned down an invitation to the White House last month because he had a scheduling conflict.

“Plus, by then it was a little too late,” he said.

Leising said she missed a call from a White House official the day before a vote while she was in a committee meeting. She didn't try to call back because she wasn't going to change her mind.

Mitch Daniels, a former Indiana governor and a Republican, had a simple explanation for what happened.

“Folks in our state don’t react well to being bullied,” he said.

Some Republicans lashed out at senators for defying Trump.

"His life was threatened — and he was nearly assassinated," Indiana Lieutenant Gov. Micah Beckwith wrote on social media. “All for what? So that Indiana politicians could grow timid.”

The message to the president, Beckwith said, was “go to hell.”

But senators who opposed redistricting said they were just listening to their constituents. Some believed the unusual push to redraw districts was the equivalent of political cheating. Others didn't like that Washington was telling Indiana what to do.

The proposed map would have divided Indianapolis into four pieces, grafting pieces of the city onto other districts to dilute the influence of Democratic voters. But in small towns near the borders with Kentucky and Ohio, residents feared the state's biggest metropolitan area would gain influence at their expense.

“Constituents just didn’t want it,” Holdman said.

During Thursday's vote on the Senate floor, some Republicans seemed torn about their decision.

Sen. Greg Goode, who is from Terre Haute, said he had spoken twice to Trump on the phone while weighing the redistricting plan. He declared his “love” for the president but decried “over-the-top pressure.”

Goode said he wouldn't vote for the proposal.

“I’m confident my vote reflects the will of my constituents," he said.

Protesters are seen through a window in the Senate Chamber during dissuasion before a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray takes a question after a bill to redistrict the state's congressional map was defeated, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A protester celebrates as they walk outside the Indiana Senate Chamber after a bill to redistrict the state's congressional map was defeated, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Protestors hold signs outside the Indiana Senate chamber before a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)