by Alma Bean
Feature Image: Photo by George Frey
The Utah Jazz (19-19) comes home for the new year as they take on the Miami Heat (18-18) in a two-game homestand.
No Miami Sun for New Year’s
Utah came ready to play for the New Year’s game against Miami, but maybe a little too much. Mike Conley (9/4/8) was charged with a flagrant foul one for landing in Tyler Herro‘s (29/9/6) shooting space. This came within the first three minutes of the game leaving the crowd confused since the visual was very minimal. Conley even picked up his second foul shortly after a questionable call involving him and Max Strus (13/2/6). On the defensive end, Utah’s highlight for the quarter is the growth of Walker Kessler (5 points and 12 rebounds). Kessler was able to be fierce in the paint against Bam Adebayo (32/8/5) getting back-to-back blocks on him in the same possession. Even with that type of effort, Utah finished the quarter trailing Miami 31-30.
The second quarter consisted of limited shooting from Utah. Even shooting 5/9 (54.5%) from the perimeter and 3/6 (50%) within, it was their trips to the free throw line that standout for Utah. Going 12/16 (75%), Utah shot more than double the attempts that Miami had for the quarter shooting 5/7 (71.4%). Even with many trips to the free-throw line, Utah was able to get some support from Malik Beasley (17/3/2) from the perimeter. After struggling on Utah’s three-game road trip, shooting 4/26 (15.4%) from the perimeter, Beasley went 3/4 (75%) in the second quarter. Even with three Utah players in double figures going into the half, Utah trailed Miami 69-63.
¡Feliz año nuevo!
Shortly into the third quarter, Miami and Utah found themselves in foul trouble. Four minutes into the quarter, both teams had a combined six players with at least three fouls. Among them were Kelly Olynyk (14/4/6) and Kyle Lowry (5/3/4). Outside of the abundance of fouls, the third quarter had multiple game-shifting runs. Miami up 79-72 and Utah responds with an 9-0 run. While Utah briefly held an 84-81 lead, Miami responded with a 7-0 run to take an 88-84 lead. That run didn’t settle well with Utah and followed up with an 11-0 run to go up 95-88. To wrap up the quarter, Miami went on an 8-3 run to trail Utah 98-96 going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter continued to bring players to the free-throw line. Both teams combined for 55 fouls and a total of 76 free throw attempts. Utah shot 11/15 (73.3%) and Miami went 11/13 (84.6%) from the free-throw line. In a change of pace, Kessler managed his ability to collect fouls quickly by picking up his first foul in the fourth quarter after playing 22 minutes. Kessler continued to be a presence in the paint but that didn’t matter to Victor Oladipo (23/5/5) as he was able to put Kessler on the embarrassing side of a posterizing dunk.
The game was put into the hands of Jordan Clarkson (22/5/3) who was 2-7 (28.6%) from the free throw line but was able to redeem himself by going 3-3 (100%) during his next trip to the line bring Utah within striking distance 122-120. Oladipo was given a chance to put the game away on the following possession but made 1-2 (50%) giving Miami a 123-120 lead with 12.1 seconds left in the game. After a quick timeout by Utah to move the ball to half-court, Lauri Markkanen (29 points and 14 rebounds) received the inbound pass and was forced to shoot a turnaround perimeter shot and was fouled in the process. Markkanen made all three free throws to tie the score 123-123 with 6.3 seconds left. The crowd in Salt Lake City was all on their feet as Miami had to go the full length of the court to find a good shot attempt. Put into the hands of Herro, he dribbled down the court and even double-teamed once he passed halfcourt. Herro was able to get a three-point shot off before the final buzzer and drained to give Utah the loss 126-123.
What’s Next?
Utah will get a few days off before facing the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night in Utah’s first game of 2023.