Miami – The back to back defending NBA champions took on the worst of the west Monday night in Miami with a crowd of 19,600 prepared to watch the demolition. Miami had won 17 straight over western conference foes and wasn’t about to let the Jazz end their streak. The Jazz on the other hand had other ideas.
The Jazz kept it close ending the first quarter only down six at 20-26 and improved their shooting ending up the first half ahead of the Heat by three 50-47. In the third quarter, LeBron James lost his headband and turned his left ankle so what does he do? James just goes crazy taking their 3 point lead and turning it into 13 by the end of quarter. Miami outscored Utah 36-21 in the third to end up 71-83 for the first three quarters.
Lebron James finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists while Dwyane Wade put in 27 as the Miami Heat defeated the Utah Jazz with a final score of 117-94. It was the best shooting night in team history for Miami shooting 63.4 from the field. Chris Bosh scored 20 points as the Heat moved to within two games of Indiana for the East lead.
For the Utah Jazz guard Alec Burks was the highlight scoring a career-high 31 points on 12-17 shooting. Derrick Favors scored 17 and Enes Kanter had 14 points and eight rebounds. Although the Jazz lead at the half, by the end of the game the Jazz wound up trailing by as many as 25.
Lebron James nearly had a triple-double. He was one assist and one rebound away from the accomplishment which was the second game in a row where he would end up just short.
The Jazz are next in action Tuesday night as they take on the Orland Magic in the first of two back to back games this week as the Jazz make their regular east coast swing just before Christmas. The Jazz calendar can be followed by clicking on the Utah Sporting News Calendar for all of the Utah Sports programs.