After tough losses in San Antonio and Oklahoma City, the road-weary Jazz got just what they needed Wednesday night—a lopsided 111-84 win over the Miami Heat in Salt Lake City.
Utah (14-15) never trailed in the blowout victory, which avenged a last-second defeat in Miami just over a week ago.
"It started from the tip. We came out strong and didn't let up," Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said after the win. "We just tried to stay focused and aggressive on defense, and the game took care of itself."
Mitchell scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Jazz, while Rudy Gobert (10 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, two blocks) recorded his 24th double-double of the season.
Derrick Favors (17 points on 7-for-8 shooting), Kyle Korver (16 points, four 3-pointers), Danté Exum (14 points) and Joe Ingles (10 points, six assists) also scored in double figures in the win.
Rodney McGruder led the Heat (11-16) with 16 points, and center Kelly Olynyk added 14 points for Miami off the bench.
12-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, who has already announced that he'll retire after the season, checked into the game to a special introduction midway through the first quarter. Wade, who has developed a close friendship with Mitchell, finished with six points and two assists in 19 minutes.
Wednesday's Best
Mitchell was all over the court against the Heat. He hustled for an offensive rebound and putback layup, drew a charge, crossed over Josh Richardson and converted a three-point play, did the same thing to McGruder before hitting nothing but net on a jumper, and grabbed a steal and converted a contested layup in transition. The second-year guard finished with 21 points (on 9-for-17 shooting), five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 26 minutes. It was Mitchell's 15th game of the season with 20+ points.
Key Stretches
The Jazz jumped all over Miami early, getting out to a quick 13-0 lead just four minutes into the game. Ingles canned a three and made a one-handed runner in the lane, while Mitchell put in a left-handed layup, Gobert threw down a dunk (off a pass from Ingles), and Jae Crowder made a step-back three. The Jazz would push the score to 22-4 and led by 25 at the end of the first quarter.
Utah didn't let up in the second quarter, taking a 60-33 lead into halftime.
Everything was working for the Jazz, who went on a 17-3 run to go up by 42 late in the third quarter. Utah skipped the ball all over the court until it found the open man—Gobert for a dunk, Favors for a free-throw-line jumper, Exum for a corner three ... on and on it went until the Jazz secured the 27-point victory.
Significant Stats
70.0
The Jazz shot 14-for-20 (70.0 percent) in the first quarter as they built a 25-point lead. Overall, Utah shot 52.6 percent from the field—while holding Miami to 37.7 percent shooting.
16
Utah made 16 3-pointers while shooting 50 percent from deep. Korver (4-for-5), Crowder (3-for-5), Exum (2-for-3), Mitchell (2-for-5) and Ingles (2-for-6) each made multiple threes.
+14
Utah's bench outscored Miami's reserves 56-42, with Favors (17 points), Korver (16 points) and Exum (14 points) leading the way.
Coach's Quote of the Night
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder
Notable
With his 3-pointer in the first minute of the game, Ingles moved into third place on the team's all-time list of threes made. ... Utah dished out 29 assists, with Ingles and Ricky Rubio leading the way with six each. ... The Jazz outrebounded the Heat 52-30. ... Starters Goran Dragic (knee) and Hassan Whiteside (personal) did not play for the Heat. ... Raul Neto (leg) did not play for the Jazz. ... Utah outscored Miami 38-26 in the paint and 10-3 in second-chance points. ... The Jazz had lost four straight games to the Heat.
Up Next
The Jazz will travel to Mexico City for a game against the Orlando Magic on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3:00pm MT.
(function($) { $(document).ready(function() { game = { "league": "nba", "year": "2018", "divID": "article_game_stats" } // Load Game Detail Widget getGameDetails(game, loadGameDetail);
// Single Game Settings var UJSGTSettings = { "year": "2017", "league": "nba", "seasonType": "02", "displayType": "nextHome", // all, allFuture, home, away, next, nextHome "mode": "default", // default, promotion, govx "UJSGTgdk": "1YTWe21GWgeS4OD3dS95IAHLU6Vlk6GsTOyQ5-2x5h1A", // links "UJGIVgdk": "1lkbb8y0bZSr2uCcuqggpxwHuHvCejHRv4pdAwE-IA-A", // giveaway "UJSGPgdk": "1Z8ApD-5USWfTFXql8StC6IKaUoLGl7aTFTlNfSOI4wc", // promo "UJSGJgdk": "1CzFJe5goij43p8YP_WsA32qQGO9kScAYJl7jAGg5bFY", // jersey "bLOC": "pagesingle", // specifiy where the button appears "divID": "UJSGT" // inject into this divID };
combinedSingleGameData(UJSGTSettings, loadSingleGames);
// Promotion collapse/expand: Make sure to target the same divID passed in the single game settings. $('#UJSGT').on('click', '.jst-game-special-offer-button', function() { $(this).children('i').toggleClass('fa-flip-vertical'); $parent_wrapper = $(this).parents('.jst-game-special-wrapper'); $parent_wrapper.children('.jst-game-special-offer-details').slideToggle(); $parent_container = $(this).parents('.jst-game-special-offer'); $parent_container.children('.jst-game-special-offer-teaser').fadeToggle();
});
}); })(jQuery);