* Recap: Heat 106, Hornets 105

There’s a difference between having headaches and getting headaches. Charlotte coach Steve Clifford had to step away from his job for a while due to severe headaches sourced to sleep deprivation, a by-product of his (and so many other coaches’) workaholic tendencies.

But the aggravation Clifford felt Saturday, which made him sound like a man in the midst of a full-blown migraine, came entirely from the outside. His Hornets team squandered opportunities at home against Miami that elicited an uncharacteristic response from Clifford, and Brendan Marks of the Charlotte Observer was there to chronicle it:

Retelling Hornets coach Steve Clifford’s seething postgame rant doesn’t do justice to just how frustrated Charlotte’s head man was – and deservedly so, after the Hornets choked away a 10-point lead to lose preposterously to the Miami Heat 106-105 on Saturday night at Spectrum Center.

“We absolutely butchered the fourth quarter, starting with the first two possessions,” Clifford said. “We were up 10, then made a mistake on the first play on (Miami forward Kelly) Olynyk with stuff we went over yesterday and today.

“On the second play on Olynyk, we made another mistake and it goes from 10 to four. We get the starters back in, get it back to 10 and just give Ellington a 3. Right when the game is at about five and a half and we had the chance to put the game away … it was just a terrible effort. That’s what you get.”

“We made some mistakes late and a couple of turnovers, but that game should have been a 10- or 15-point win if we defend the way we were supposed to,” Clifford said. “I’d say in the fourth quarter alone we made six or seven mistakes on stuff that was covered yesterday, worked on live and then we did it again this morning. And that’s how you become a team that wins two and loses one, like we have been.

“Just total lack of concentration, intensity, technique and understanding who the hell you’re playing against. It’s terrible. Terrible.”

Charlotte finds itself already fighting for its postseason life, a goal when 2017-18 began at least, because of circumstances such as Saturday: blowing home games due to their own recklessness and failure to follow through on prep work. Clifford needs to keep the focus where it belongs, though, and not cave to any temptation to burn more midnight oil.

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