Miami Heat Look to End Road Trip on a Positive Note in Utah
By David Ramil
Before enjoying the comforts of home, the Miami Heat will have to make one more stop, a traditionally-difficult layover in Salt Lake City.
The Heat (10-12) face the Utah Jazz (6-16) on Friday night, a team that has taken a step back in its rebuilding efforts but is loaded with young talent. They started off decently enough but went on to lose a nine games straight, a streak that ended on Tuesday with a victory of the San Antonio Spurs.
That would seem to indicate that there’s talent in Utah, and certainly the starting lineup is a mix of size, athleticism and shooting that hasn’t quite put it all together. They’re lead by Gordon Hayward, a solid player averaging 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He gives the team it’s best long-range threat (at 35.6 percent from 3-point range) and is multi-faceted threat. The backcourt of Alec Burks and Trey Burke is streaky, and can be dangerous from inside and out.
Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors round out the starting unit and provide size that Miami has found difficult to guard this season. Favors’ 21 points were the deciding factor against the Spurs and Kanter, at 6’11”, is a good shooter from mid-range (he’s hitting 53 percent of all his attempts this year).
Trevor Booker and Rudy Gobert get the most playing time off the bench and Gobert, in his second year out of France, is a 7’1″ shot-blocker that could limit Miami’s reserves, a group that has struggled to score enough on its own.
The Heat were blown out on Wednesday, a predictable loss to the Denver Nuggets that got ugly in a hurry. Although Miami was competitive at first, fatigue set in and a familiar pattern of falling apart in the second half led to a rout. Josh McRoberts sat out the game and Miami’s rotation was forced to adapt yet again; Justin Hamilton started in his place and was mostly ineffective. Then again, that could be used to describe nearly every Heat player, who seemed resigned to losing once the Nuggets went on a run in the third quarter.
Miami is an increasingly hard team to predict, capable of offensive brilliance and ineptitude in the same game. Effort has been an issue and the difficult scheduling has made things worse.
As always, you hope that the team’s pride is enough to lead the team to victory but it might be enough to simply play competitive basketball for a full 48 minutes. We’ll see tonight when the teams meet at 9 p.m. from the EnergySolutions Arena in Utah. Check back with All U Can Heat for a recap, grades and analysis.