Field Level Media
Dec 12, 2018
Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points to lead a balanced offensive effort that lifted the Utah Jazz to a 111-84 victory over the visiting Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Derrick Favors added 17 points and eight rebounds and Kyle Korver chipped in 16 points for the Jazz. Rudy Gobert added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Utah snapped a two-game losing streak.
Rodney McGruder scored 16 points, Kelly Olynyk added 14 points and Josh Richardson chipped in 11 for the Heat. Miami dropped a game to the Jazz for the first time since the 2015-16 season, snapping the team's four-game winning streak over Utah.
Utah scored the first 13 points of the game to take control. Joe Ingles and Jae Crowder bookended the run with 3-pointers. The Heat missed their first six shots from the field before James Johnson sank a layup with 7:35 left in the first quarter.
The Jazz didn't let up. Utah scored baskets on nine consecutive possessions, capped by Mitchell's put-back jumper, to push its lead to 30-10 with 3:40 left in the period.
The Jazz held Miami to 15 points in the opening quarter, a season low for any Utah opponent in that quarter. Utah took advantage of the Heat's shooting woes, going 14 of 20 (70 percent) from the field through the opening 12 minutes.
Utah eventually stretched its lead to 31 points in the second quarter. The Jazz went up 53-22 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Korver and Mitchell.
Miami shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 58 percent for Utah.
The Jazz led by as many as 42 points after halftime. Favors made back-to-back baskets and Dante Exum drilled a 3-pointer over three straight possessions to cap a 17-3 run that gave Utah a 92-50 lead with 13.7 seconds left in the third quarter.
For the game, the Jazz sank 52.6 percent of their field-goal attempts while Miami hit 37.7 percent.
--Field Level Media