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.
Welcome to the show
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.
And let’s not forget those 3-pointers:
Derrick Favors keeps getting better
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.
What he said
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.
Free points are always good
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."