Monstrous defensive stretch takes Utah Jazz to 112-94 victory, their 7th straight win

Before Saturday night’s game against the Utah Jazz, all of the Miami media gathered during a Zoom call asked Heat coach Erik Spoelstra about three-point shooting, three-point shooting, and three-point shooting.

Maybe they should have asked for defense.

On a night when the Jazz’s normally productive offense sputtered a bit, an epic shutdown attempt proved more than enough to take them to their seventh straight win – 112-94.

It was Utah’s 18th victory in the past 19 games, rising to 22-5 in the season.

However, it wasn’t like much of their previous one, in which they simply bury their opponent with a barrage of 3-pointers. While Utah’s deep ball shots would eventually come around a bit, they were only 1 of 12 past the arc in the first quarter and 3 of 21 by half time.

Despite all those rocks, some incredible defensive sequences from Rudy Gobert, Royce O’Neale – even Miye Oni – put Utah in the lead.

They went up a notch immediately after the break.

Miami’s first 14 holdings of the third quarter consisted of 11 missed shots and three turnovers, as the Jazz scored 16 consecutive times, turning a five-point lead at halftime to a 63-42 lead.

“We are a great shooting team, but we know that in some games our shots are not going to fall, [and] our defense is what will really keep us in the games, ”said O’Neale, who also contributed eight points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks. “We had slowed down a bit in the first half, and when we got to the third quarter, we knew we had to pick it up. It started with me, and then everyone followed. “

Indeed, the Heat only got a ball into the basket when there was only 5:51 left in the period, coming in at just 15 points in the quarter on 5-for-20 shots.

They got enough points from players in spurts – Bojan Bogdanovic came to the edge in the first quarter, Georges Niang hit a few rare 3s, Mitchell went on a personal 7-0 run to open the third, Gobert dipped his way to 11 points in the fourth – that they were able to keep it closed early and then pull out late.

In the end, the Jazz only finished 12 out of 46 (26.1%) of a 3-point range for the game.

That’s why all those little things add up on the other side. O’Neale single-handedly stopped (literally) two transition opportunities in Miami by being in position and simply swiping down and hitting the ball away.

“I just have fast hands, I guess,” he said sheepishly when asked how he perfected its dexterity.

Meanwhile, Gobert had an incredible streak in which he thwarted a 2-on-1 with All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

First, he didn’t overreact to Butler’s drive to the edge, stayed well positioned and forced a pass. Then, despite biting Adebayo’s pump fake, an incredibly quick second jump enabled him to challenge the scoreless shot and force a miss. When Butler took the rebound and went for the bunny, Gobert knocked it out.

Butler only shot 3 of 10 for the game, while Adebayo was 7 for 17.

“Tonight was just one of those games when they came out, they were very physical, they hit us in the face. But we didn’t overreact when our shots didn’t hit, ”said Gobert, who finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. “We kept defending, we kept running and they kept attacking.”

With the three off target, the Jazz dug into their ever-deepening toolbox and threw a little bit of everything else into the problem. It started with that defense, of course (Miami shot only 40.7% in total and 12 of 36 from the depth), but also included attacking the rim (54 points in the paint), getting out in the transition (20 quick break points) and board control (10 offensive rebounds yielded 13 jump-offs).

“The coach is doing his very best to take the little things home with us, whether that’s not talking to the referee after an action, or getting us back on the defense, or making the extra pass. And those little things add up from night to night, and that’s how you win games, ”said Niang, who scored a season high on the equalizer with 14 points, as well as five assists. “And other teams lose games because they refuse to hold each other responsible for those little things. And I think that’s one thing – especially after last year’s playoff series, and our ups and downs – that coach has put his foot on the ground, as All-Stars in the little things. “