Jazz Fall to Heat 119-115: Three Positives to Take Away
The Utah Jazz battled but ultimately fell short on Monday night, as the Miami Heat emerged victorious, 119-115. With two injured starters still riding the pine, the house money Utah had been playing with eventually ran dry as the exhausted, road-weary team gave up the ghost.
However, Utah did fight hard and had a chance to win the game in the clutch. What did we learn? Let's dive in.
Developing the Clutch Gene
Even though the Jazz haven't come out on top in as many of these games as they'd like, they've been in 47 'clutch games,' where the final score is decided by five points or less. Only the Heat have been in more. In fact, two of Miami's 'clutch' games have come vs. Utah, and the Heat came out on top in both.
The silver lining, though, is that while the Jazz have come up short in many of these tight games, as a still quite young team with a lot of new faces figuring out how to play together and a first-year head coach, they're being tested in the NBA crucible. Each loss and win in clutch time serves as a monumental education that will eventually serve Utah well when the chips are down.
The pay-off from living in the refiner's fire might not come this season, but Will Hardy's squad is becoming quite battle-tested. The Jazz are developing their clutch gene through the trial-and-error process.
Simone Fontecchio Turning a Corner
The Jazz have stayed supportive of the Italian-born Fontecchio throughout this season, even through his ups and downs. However, the last two games have seen 'Tech' live much more on the ups, as he finished with a career-high 23 points in Miami.
“He was good. He stayed aggressive," Lauri Markkanen said of Fontecchio post-game. "We know how good of a shooter he is and just needs to see a couple go down. Happy for him. He got the opportunity and we keep feeding him. He’s, like I said, a great shooter, so he gets it going and he’s a tough man to stop."
Hardy was loath to take Fontecchio off the court in the clutch on Monday night for good reason. He was in the zone late and finished 5-of-11 from three-point territory.
Markkanen's Short Memory
Utah's All-Star was coming off a putrid outlier of a performance in Charlotte, though it still resulted in a victory for his team, thanks to the out-of-his-mind machinations of Talen Horton-Tucker. In Miami, Markkanen bounced back with aplomb, finishing with a team-high 38 points and eight rebounds.
Markkanen now has 15 30-point games this season. He had 15 total 30-point performances in the previous five years he's been in the league.
As a veteran, he knows that you have to have a short memory when the Slump God taps you on the shoulder.
“I kind of forget it," Markkanen said post-game in Miami. "We won that game so I was happy—talking about the Charlotte game. So I was happy about that and kind of know it’s hopefully kind of a one-off. Stay aggressive and come back with the same mindset and keep going. Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough but we’ll learn from it.”
Bottom Line
The Jazz now sit at 33-36 on the season, with the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference. Utah gets a few days' rest before suiting up at home vs. the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.
The Jazz can stay playoff-relevant, but they have to start coming out on top in these "clutch games" more often than not.
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