NBA: Heat’s late-game heroics hold off Jazz
Tyler Herro hit the treble with 55 seconds left, giving the Miami Heat home team a 119-115 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Utah had a chance to score with 6.2 seconds left, and Ochai Agbaji saw a clear path to goal. However, Heat center Bam Adebayo turned around and forced Agbaji to change his shot, resulting in a balloon. Adebayo grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to lead 119-115.
Tyler’s 3rd clutch with less than a minute left us at the top 🔥 pic.twitter.com/CceDRNc5cu
– ENJOY Miami (@MiamiHEAT) March 14, 2023
Jimmy Butler led Miami with 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists as the Heat improved to 23-13 at home. Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent each scored 18 points, while Adebayo scored 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Utah, which had a broken two-game winning streak, was led by Lauri Markkanen’s 38-point high. Reserve striker Simone Fontecchio added a career-high 23 points, including 20 in the first half. Fontecchio, an untrained 27-year-old rookie, is a native of Italy.
Utah’s Talen Horton-Tucker, who came off the field with 37 points in Saturday’s win over Charlotte, has the highest eight assists of the game but is held on to nine points. He only took 3 out of 13 shots from the floor.
Jimmy led the team tonight in points, blocks, steals and hairstyle changes pic.twitter.com/bdHCj2o52N
– ENJOY Miami (@MiamiHEAT) March 14, 2023
Heat reserve center Omer Yurtseven, who had ankle surgery in November, played only his second game of the season, scoring two points and four rebounds in 11 minutes.
Yurtseven plays for Cody Zeller, who broke his nose in Miami’s loss to Orlando on Saturday.
Early Monday it was all Miami, leading the whole first quarter and over 12 points. At the end of the half, the Heat had a 33-26 advantage thanks to a 59.1% shot rate, including 5 to 11 when throwing 3 points.
Utah bounced back like wildfire in the second quarter, leading by eight points. However, Miami closed the second half 7-0, beating Utah’s halftime break 57-56. Miami cooled down in the second quarter, reaching only 27.8%, including the 1-to-8 ratio from worms.
Markkanen led all scorers in the first half with 21 points. Fontecchio scored 20 points.
Things got even more tense in the third inning, which ended in a 90-90 draw between the teams.
The first four minutes of the fourth inning had nine leader changes and the game was almost over.
However, Miami won the game at the foul line with a score of 31 to 36. Utah won 13 to 18 on the free throw.
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