Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat humiliated by the Jazz in the worst loss of the season

The Heat were massacred by the Utah Jazz and mercy wasn’t even shown in the fourth quarter. Jimmy Butler was absent as he served the first night of his seven-game suspension, but he wouldn’t have prevented the Heat from getting smacked around on the glass 57-32. And Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo were no-shows.

“There wasn’t a whole lot we did well, or with purpose, or energy, or toughness tonight,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game.

Nikola Jović had a strong first quarter, hitting outside shots and scoring at the cup, and the Jazz missed their first eight of nine 3-point tries. Through 12 minutes, the game was tied at 22.

Then an avalanche started in the second quarter as Miami was outscored 40 to 19. The Jazz faced no resistance, scoring on 77% of attempts, while the Heat’s offense was impotent, making six of 20. Such a showing makes it hard to believe the Jazz had a 7-25 record before this game.

At halftime, the Heat was down 62-41. They had 24 paint points, 14 on the break, two via second chances and 10 off turnovers. Additionally, Adebayo missed all four attempts, and Herro was shut down to 33% shooting.

The Jazz had 36 paint points, four on the break, 11 via second chances and four off turnovers.

Then the Heat got smoked in the third quarter 36-25, but they had let go of the rope a few minutes in, when Keyonte George’s pull-up triple pushed the Jazz’s lead to 27 points. Not that it would’ve made much of a difference, but the hosts also missed six free throws in the period, proving how shell-shocked they were.

Utah didn’t take its foot off the gas in the fourth either, as the Heat’s background players took the floor. Brice Sensabaugh added 20 points, including five treys.

The Heat lost 136-100. It was the most points scored against them this season and the biggest margin of defeat. Before this game, the worst losses in margin were to Boston by 19 on Dec. 2, and by 19 to Orlando on Oct. 23.

After the game, Herro said, “We’re trying to put all that stuff past us, and worry about the guys in the locker room and the guys going out there on the court every night. Just trying to bring a collective spirit to rally around each other and help us win games.”

Observations:

• Jović showing some moves on the break and making three of five triples is perhaps the Heat’s lone bright spot.

• The team couldn’t stop John Collins’ rim attacks. And Lauri Markkanen’s length was difficult to maneuver around.

• The Jazz burned the point of attack defense for 16 of 39 3-pointers.

• The Jazz were the nastier team, outscoring the Heat in second chance points 21-6.