Nothing attractive but the result for the Heat in 97-92 victory in Utah

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 9, 2025

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SALT LAKE CITY — As the Miami Heat broke their huddle in the locker following Tuesday night’s victory over the Golden State Warriors, the chant was, “Breakthrough on three!”

The hope, after an excruciating double-overtime loss the night before against the Sacramento Kings, was of better days ahead amid a largely middling season,

In that regard, even with its ragged play and needed late heroics, enough again broke right for the Heat in Thursday night’s 97-92 victory over the Utah Jazz at Delta Center.

Avenging a 36-point loss to the Jazz five nights earlier at Kaseya Center, the Heat escaped against a team with only two home wins this season.

Tyler Herro led the Heat with 23 points, with the Heat also getting 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Jaime Jaquez Jr., who converted a key late 3-pointer, and 15 points and seven rebounds from Bam Adebayo.

The Heat also got bench boosts from Nikola Jovic (11 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Kel’el Ware (eight points, seven rebounds).

The victory lifted the Heat to 19-17 overall and 2-1 on this six-game trip.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

— 1. Closing time: The Jazz led 27-20 at the end of the first period, before the Heat came back to take a 46-41 halftime lead, ending the second quarter on a 19-7 run.

From there, the Heat moved to an 11-point third-quarter lead, only to see the Jazz bounce back for a 70-68 lead going into the fourth.

Later, midway through the final period, a pair of Herro 3-pointers put the Heat up three.

From there, a pair of Adebayo mid-range baskets then staked the Heat to a 90-86 lead with 2:05 to play.

But after the Jazz closed within 90-88, Jaquez appeared to get to the line with 79 seconds left. However, that’s when the Jazz successfully challenged, leading to a jumpball at midcourt, which was won by the Heat.

That is when Jaquez stepped up with a 3-pointer for a 93-88 Heat lead with 63 seconds to play.

A pair of Collin Sexton free throws trimmed the Jazz deficit to 95-92 with 13.2 seconds left.

That put Jaquez, who missed two critical late free throws in Sacramento, at the line with 11.8 seconds to play. This time Jaquez made both, effectively ending it.

— 2. Old reliable: Herro had 13 points at halftime, a stage when no other Heat player had more than Jovic’s nine.

With the first of his 3-pointers, Herro extended his career-best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 70, breaking Duncan Robinson’s franchise record of 69 set in 2021.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra again attempted to alleviate some of the ballhandling responsibilities on Herro, with Jovic and Jaquez also playing as facilitators, Jaquez with four assists in the first half.

— 3. Ware with all: While Ware loaded up on statistics as a change of pace with his size when Adebayo sat, there also were ample rookie moments.

One of them came when he fouled former Heat guard Patty Mills on a successful Mills 3-point attempt early in the fourth quarter. Further, Ware was called for a flagrant foul for a reckless closeout, not only leaving Mills with the four-point play, but also the Jazz with possession.

The Jazz then turned the ball over on their extra possession, leaving it as a four-point sequence.

— 4. Successfully unsuccessful: The Heat caught an unexpected break early in the fourth quarter when Jazz coach Will Hardly challenged the call of a foul on Utah center Drew Eubanks against Heat guard Terry Rozier.

Hardy won — and lost — the challenge.

While the review took away the foul on Eubanks as clean contact on the ball, the follow-through on the play was ruled a goal tend on Eubanks.

So Hardy “won” the challenge, retained the challenge and his timeout, but the Heat got the two points.

— 5. Halfway home: Thursday night marked the midpoint of this six-game trip, following Monday night’s double-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings and Tuesday night’s victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Next up is a Saturday night game against the Portland Trail Blazers. From there, it could come down to fire conditions, with the Heat scheduled to play the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night and the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

Already the Los Angeles Rams’ Monday home playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings has been moved to Phoenix, with air quality a factor in what had been an outdoor event.