Dion Waiters leads Miami Heat past Charlotte Hornets

March 9 (UPI) -- MIAMI -- Dion Waiters scored 24 points and Goran Dragic added 22 points and 10 assists to lead the Miami Heat to a 108-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Dragic recorded his fifth double-double of the season as Miami continued its hot streak, winning for the 20th time in 24 games. The Heat (31-34) also have won three games in a row, including two straight over the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

Waiters made five 3-pointers for the second game in a row. As a team, Miami made 17 of 41 attempts (41.5 percent) from beyond the arc.

Kemba Walker led Charlotte (28-36) with 33 points. However, Walker missed a layup with 20 seconds and committed a turnover 10 seconds later to doom the Hornets.

Charlotte's Marvin Williams added a double-double -- 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Both teams survived injury scares. Dragic got accidentally poked in his right eye by Walker in the first quarter but quickly returned to the game. Charlotte's Nicolas Batum sprained his left ankle in the third quarter but also returned.

By holding Miami to 30 percent shooting in the first quarter, Charlotte led by as many as seven points early and settled for a 22-18 lead heading into the second.

Miami took the lead after a 17-2 second-quarter run. Charlotte closed the quarter on a 20-9 stretch, and the score was 54-54 at halftime.

Walker, held scoreless in the first quarter, had 17 points at the half. He made 6 of 7 field-goal attempts in the second quarter, including 2 of 3 3-point tries.

Charlotte closed the third quarter on a 10-2 run to take an 86-81 lead into the fourth.

NOTES: F Luke Babbitt (back spasms) returned after getting hurt in the Heat's Monday win at Cleveland. He scored 12 points Wednesday. ... Heat G Tyler Johnson (sore neck, shoulders) and F James Johnson (elbow) also returned after missing Monday's game. James Johnson scored 10 points, and Tyler Johnson added six. ... Charlotte has three players on its injury list: C Miles Plumlee (calf), F Frank Kaminsky (shoulder) and G Ramon Sessions (knee). ... Hornets G Kemba Walker is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week. He averaged 27.7 points, 6.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds in three games last week. ... For Miami, this marked the start of a stretch of eight games in which seven will be played at home.