Hayley Byrnes

It was a taste of “oh so close” Thursday night when the Jazz fell to the Heat 92-91 in Miami. While we may not have gotten the result we were after on the scoreboard, we were still treated to some magic from Alec Burks and a block party courtesy of Derrick Favors.

Burks continues to impress with every game. His ability to turn the most improbable shots into points boggles the mind, and last night was no different.

Burks showed surreal body control, and he never panicked as the defense tried to take away angles for him to get off a proper shot. He just trusted his athleticism and amazing feel for the game to eventually find the right angle for the shot.

Favors has been dominant no matter where he is on the court this season. With Rudy Gobert out, some people may have worried about the team’s ability to protect the rim. Yeah … no worry necessary.

Not one, not two, not three …  but SEVEN blocks against Miami—along with his 25 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and three steals. Favors had his most complete game yet.

You can relive all seven of Favors’ blocks here.

Miami center Chris Bosh was put to the test Thursday night, and it showed.

“Those guys play well, we’ve been watching them since the beginning of the season since we knew we had them early in the schedule,” he said. “They play hard. They play together. Their defense is very good. We knew they didn’t have the big fella (Gobert), but it was still tough enough.”

After the game, Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra compared the two teams, saying that the Jazz are very similar to Miami in their competitive nature.

Gordon Hayward had his best scoring game of the season with 24 points while going 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. He also chipped in on the boards with 11 rebounds in Gobert’s absence—once again proving that this is a team that has guys who are willing to step up when guys are out.

Hayward also combined with Trey Burke and Burks to finish off this beautiful alley-oop.

"We got some really good looks tonight,'' Hayward said. ''We just weren't able to knock them down. For whatever reason, they didn't fall. The good news is we got the shots we wanted."

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About Last Night: Jazz 91, Heat 92

While it was a quiet night for Raul Neto from a scoring standpoint (0 points in 12:33 on the court), his passing lit up Jazz fans’ timelines. With passing like that, it's easy to see how he had five assists in under 13 minutes.

Heading into this game the Cavs were the fourth most accurate team in the restricted area while the Jazz was the top team defending it. The Jazz were holding the opposition to 85.0 points and a field goal percentage of 39.4 percent. With a high scoring game against the Cavs, those numbers are up to 89.7 points and 40.9 percent, which are still the best in the NBA.

However, the Jazz fell from first in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) to fifth.

Just because we know how good Alec Burks is, it doesn’t mean everyone else does. During Tuesday night’s game against the Cavs, The Starters own J.E Skeets tweeted that a Cavs commentator had absolutely no clue who Burks was:

It’s fair to say after Burks’ 24 points, he won’t forget his name again.

When asked on what got LeBron James to shift gears in the fourth quarter. “I felt like the team needed it. That’s a very good team, I believe so. They gave us everything they had. They pushed us to the brink, being down 9, they had 6 or 7 minutes to go.”

Despite going down in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, Rudy Gobert provided one of the most flawless assists of the night. Gobert left the game for nearly two minutes in the fourth quarter during a crucial stretch. The Jazz had a one point lead when Gobert turned his ankle and were down five when he returned. He’s listed as questionable for Thursday night against the Heat in Miami.

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About Last Night–Jazz at Cavaliers

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<strong>Tonight's game against the Golden State Warriors has been postponed. <a href="https://www.nba.com/jazz/news/utah-jazz-vs-golden-state-warriors-postponed">Learn More &gt;</a></strong>