Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Heat win, outdueling Jazz in the second half

Early, the Heat’s prosperous long-range marksmanship and Jimmy Butler’s shot creation – nine points and four dimes- carried the unit in the first quarter. The Jazz were slow to contest in transition and gave up threes because of overreacting to the ball handler.

Defensively, the group neutralized Utah’s Lauri Markkanen in the paint, and he missed deep jumpers he usually buries. But Rookie Keyonte George and Collin Sexton did damage- the former incinerated the Heat’s outside protection and beat Bam Adebayo on a switch to the cup for a layup; the latter added six points. The rest of the visitors converted six of 11 baskets in the frame, plus added nine second-chance points.

Through 12 minutes, the Heat was behind 30-34.

Then, after nearly six wasted minutes, the Jazz’s offense came back to life. Big man Taylor Hendricks turned three offensive rebounds into six punishing points. John Collins scored on a pick-and-roll play with Sexton on the left side and swished a transition triple. And Sexton dribbled by Jaime Jaquez Jr, pivoted past Terry Rozier and hit a left-side floater over Duncan Robinson.

For the Heat, Caleb Martin supplied three triples. Adebayo had three paint finishes. And the rest of the squad registered five of 13 attempts.

At halftime, the Heat was down 58-62 and outrebounded by six. The hosts produced 22 paint points, two on the break, three on second chances, zero after turnovers and 16 from the bench. Butler had a dozen on five shots. Adebayo also had 12 on the scoring ledger. And D. Robinson was next with seven on three of seven looks.

The Jazz had 30 interior points, two in the open court, 17 on extra tries, three after turnovers and 15 from the reserves. Sexton dropped 12 points and three assists. Collins had 10 on his scorecard and four rebounds. And George picked up nine points.

Then George came out blasting, canning two 3-pointers, driving left for a layup with Butler on his right hip and making a baseline jumper over Orlando Robinson. Markkanen added five points from the line, and the remaining Jazz poured in five of 11 buckets.

But Butler countered, successfully striking the paint five times and contributing a corner triple. He scored 18 of the club’s 32 points in the third quarter. Additionally, Rozier scored six points and set up his teammates three times. Nikola Jović provided three dimes as well.

After three quarters, the match was tied at 90. Markkanen dispensed 12 points, and George added just as many. Despite their sharpshooting keeping the Jazz afloat, the group committed five turnovers late because of the Heat’s 2-2-1 press and tight man coverage hounding the ball.

For the hosts, Adebayo launched its assault with a turnaround jumper over former Heatle Ömer Yurtseven. As the sequence drew to a close, he made three freebies, hooked over Markkanen from six feet away, spun past Collins in the post for a finger roll finish and put back Rozier’s miss in transition.

Moreover, Butler and Martin combined for 14 fourth-quarter points on eight tries. And regardless of missing five trays (1/5) late, the Heat still tallied 36 more points to close the game. (With two minutes left in the game, Butler’s right arm accidentally caught Martin in the mouth after George’s missed runner. Martin was subbed out for D. Robinson and got six stitches, per the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang.)

The Heat won 126-120 but got outrebounded by eight. The team had 62 paint points, 14 on the break, nine on second chances, 13 after turnovers and 32 from the bench. Butler was the scoring leader with 37 on 12 of 19 attempts, with seven assists. Next was Adebayo with 23 on 67% shooting, plus seven rebounds.

The Jazz racked up 50 interior points, seven in the open court, 26 on extra tries, three after turnovers and 20 from the reserves. George dropped 31 points on 12 of 23 looks. Markkanen had 25 on 33.3% shooting. And Collins and Sexton had 18 apiece.

At the postgame presser, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “When Bam [Adebayo] and Jimmy [Butler] play with that competitive spirit…our guys feel like we can beat anyone.”

In the locker room, Butler said the game was in the mud and similar to Playoff basketball. On the topic of getting the ball in the post, he said, “If anybody [has] the mismatch, get them the ball. We expect them to score or make the right play out of it.”

The Heat’s record improved to 34-26, sitting at sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The team will not practice Sunday.

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