While the Utah Jazz fell victim to a buzzer-beating half-court shot on Tuesday, the Miami Heat were earning a much-needed road win the same night.
The Heat next visit the Jazz in Salt Lake City on Thursday with hopes of building on the momentum they picked up in a 114-98 win over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
Amid the drama surrounding Jimmy Butler’s future with the team, Miami ended a three-game skid and perhaps opened some hope for a brighter future — a sentiment made clear by the team shouting “Breakthrough!” at the end of a postgame locker room huddle, as the Miami Herald reported.
The previous night, Miami squandered a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost in double-overtime at Sacramento.
“It’s always good when you go through a brutal game like that and you get a bounce-back win,” the Heat’s Bam Adebayo said. “Those are the ones that you really remember. Nobody really remembers the ones where you blow somebody out, but you remember the ones where you had to really fight for the win, 48 minutes.”
Miami moved to 1-1 on its six-game road trip.
“These are opportunities, when you have a real tough game last night and a quick turnaround, you can rally around each other or you can get overwhelmed and feel sorry for yourselves,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have a group that has great competitive character. And we’re working to get things right and get to a different level. I think all of these experiences are really important for us.
“Even (Monday) night, as painful as that (loss to the Kings) was, there were a lot of teaching points that in (the Tuesday) game we were better in those areas.”
The Heat have an opportunity to show growth against the Jazz, who had won two straight before the heartbreaking home loss against the Hawks. Trae Young fired in a 50-foot shot to give Atlanta a 124-121 victory
Utah earned one of its nine wins this season at Miami in surprising fashion on Saturday. Brice Sensabaugh scored a career-high 34 points and John Collins added 24 in the 136-100 blowout as the Jazz snapped a five-game losing streak.
Utah followed that up with another impressive win — 105-92 at Orlando on Sunday — before coming up just short against the Hawks.
Four seconds after the Jazz’s Collin Sexton hit a 3-pointer to potentially force overtime, Young rushed to midcourt before unleashing a net-snapping shot. Atlanta, which had squandered a 16-point lead, was out of timeouts, leading to Young’s heroics.
“Collin made a great play and gave us a chance, and sucks for him as well to make a shot like that and not get it to overtime,” Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen said. “You always feel like you’re going to win it in overtime if you just get there.”
Utah hopes to snap an eight-game home losing streak.
“We will watch film, and there’ll be things to teach like there always is, but this is one you just kind of shake their hand and move on,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “It was a hell of a finish and an incredible shot.”
–Field Level Media
