The Utah Jazz entered the game tonight on absolute fire. They brought the heat again tonight and ousted the Eastern Conference champion from Miami last year and defeated them for their 7th consecutive victory. That’s 18 wins in 17 games for those who count at home. Let’s take another look at some thoughts, highlights, and comments from the game.
The game started very slowly for the Jazz. This is the first time in a while that it feels like an opposing defense is actually stopping for the strong attack. The switches did not create open shots or mismatches, and the Jazz scored just two points in the first five minutes. It got a little worse before it got better, but Bojan Bogdanovic saw enough and forced a time-out from Miami with the game at 13-8. The three ball just did not fall in the 1st and shot 1-12 in the quarter. That meant a backlog of 21-18. Think about how bad they played, it could have been a lot worse.
The second quarter was your typical back and forth between 2 good teams. Bogdanovic showed his offensive versatility this quarter. He can score points at all levels and in different ways. He is much more than just a sharpshooter. Side note: I really wish Royce O’Neale would learn how not to drive on his pump and drive off the 3-point line.
It was definitely a match of two high-ranking defenses. No team really found an offensive rhythm and it has been a relatively low score so far. The Jazz led 47-42 at halftime.
Donovan comes out swinging in the 2nd half. A very quick 7-0 run by Miami caused Miami to call up a timeout in the second half. Jazz jumped to a 12-point lead with the outburst and it felt like they would control it the rest of the way. Goodness! Make a 16-0 Jazz run to start the 2nd half. Quin Snyder is a mastermind. The Heat were well prepared to get the Jazz out of their game. But sure enough, by halftime, the Jazz countered and their offense clicked anyway.
It was a very close game and the Jazz suddenly rose 21. The Jazz defense is good at championship level. They just suffocated the Heat in this third quarter.
The match was essentially decided before the 4th quarter even started. The 4th was basically just a formality at this point. The Jazz maintained their lead and kept this train rolling.
Choo choo!