MIAMI -- South Beach has been no vacation spot for the Charlotte Hornets.

Charlotte had lost 12 straight games at AmericanAirlines Arena ... but there would be no unlucky No. 13 for the Hornets.

Kemba Walker had 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as Charlotte rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat the Miami Heat 109-106 on Thursday night.

Al Jefferson added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Nicolas Batum scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Charlotte (39-29) tied Miami (39-29) in the Eastern Conference standings. The teams also finished their season series knotted at 2-2.

"It's fun now -- it's a race," Walker said. "It's a battle. You want to get to a certain seed. Things like that are really important. These games are huge."

Leading 105-102, the Hornets' Marvin Williams missed two free throws with 15.6 seconds left, giving Miami an opportunity. But Charlotte's Jeremy Lin made four straight free throws in the final seconds.

Miami's Dwyane Wade had a chance to send the game to overtime but missed a 3-point try at the buzzer.

Wade, who has made just seven 3-pointers all season and is shooting 19 percent from distance, was an unlikely candidate to shoot that shot, especially on a night in which he was playing with a bruised thigh and had only nine points on 3-of-13 accuracy.

Rookie Josh Richardson, who had 18 points and has been Miami's hottest 3-point shooter for the past 15 games, was not on the court for the final play.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra defended that decision even though Wade hasn't made a 3-pointer since Dec. 16.

"All you are looking for is a wide-open shot," Spoelstra said. "When you have three seconds left, I'm fine with a wide-open look for anyone on the floor."

Pressed further on having Wade take that shot, Spoelstra bristled.

"Come on -- he's proven himself enough," Spoelstra said of Wade, a 12-time NBA All-Star, a three-time NBA champion and a 2008 Olympic gold medalist. "It doesn't matter what kind of shot. If the clock is ticking down, I'll take my chances with (Wade)."

Richardson made 3-of-4 on 3-pointers to continue his incredible hot streak. In the past 15 games, he has gone 25 of 37 from distance for a ridiculous 67.6 percent.

But Richardson did not question his exclusion from the final seconds of the game when Miami needed a 3-pointer.

"'Spo' made the call, and that's what we go with," he said of his coach. "I'm not in any position to say anything about that. I think it was a good play called. We just missed the shot."

Wade said there were multiple options on the play, but the ball came to him.

"I got a good shot," he said. "But I felt it was short when I shot it. ... I'm just off right now, struggling a bit."

Miami lost despite shooting 53 percent from the floor and outscoring Charlotte in the paint 58-26.

The Hornets prevailed largely due to their three-point shooting. The Hornets made 13 of 26 from distance.

Miami was led by Luol Deng, who had 22 points and nine rebounds but left the game with a bloody mouth after colliding with Lin in the final seconds.

The Heat's Goran Dragic added 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Heat reserve center Hassan Whiteside had 17 points and seven rebounds. But his streak of double-digit-rebound games off the bench was snapped at 13.

Miami outshot Charlotte 54.5 percent to 41.7 percent in the first quarter. Yet the Heat led just 29-26 due to the Hornets' accuracy on 3-pointers, making 5-of-5 before missing a buzzer-beater at the end of the quarter.

The Heat started the second period on a 16-4 run. But the Hornets battled back to take a 54-52 halftime lead. The Hornets closed the half on a 9-0 run.

"That was good for our confidence," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of Charlotte's run. "We had been on our heels until I sent our starters back in (midway through the second quarter)."

Charlotte extended its lead to 82-73 after three quarters and held on in the fourth.

"There's not much margin for error right now," Spoelstra said, "for either team."

NOTES: Before this hot stretch, Heat rookie G Josh Richardson was shooting just 20.8 percent this season on 3-pointers (5-of-24). ... Charlotte added G Courtney Lee since the last time it played Miami, a 98-95 loss on Feb. 5. But the Heat also made an addition since then with SF Joe Johnson. Lee and Johnson each scored 13 points on Thursday. ... Charlotte returns home to face the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. ... Miami completes its three-game homestand on Saturday with a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and ex-Heat star LeBron James.