Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat take care of Jazz on loud offensive night

The Miami Heat were in much need of a win in Utah tonight. With the Phoenix Suns capping off this road trip tomorrow night, the group couldn’t be in a position where they’re heading home with a 1-4 record at worst case scenario.

The trio of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, and Davion Mitchell, who have all started games at some point this season, were all sidelined again for this one. Norman Powell once again suited up after being upgraded from questionable.

Miami took care of business from start to finish tonight, as the Heat sustained their double digit lead with strong scoring nights up and down the rotation.

So let’s jump right into some takeaways from the blowout win,

1. Heat’s offensive pop coming in unusual way.

The Miami Heat’s 73 point first half would draw some eyes if looking at a box score. It wasn’t elite three point shooting or smooth scoring that got Miami to that mark though, it was much more of a grinding style. For starters, the Heat had 19 offensive rebounds in the first half to the Jazz’s 2. Miami was pouncing on the offensive glass, operating often with second chance points in the paint. The other area that dominated that high scoring first half was free throw shooting. With 18 seconds left in the second quarter, Norman Powell went to the line for his 7th and 8th free throws of the game, putting Miami at 24 attempts in the half. They dominated these two categories, which usually isn’t their biggest strength.

2. The quiet, yet not so quiet, impact player strikes again.

If you sat back and eyeballed the box score at halftime, you would notice two things: the Heat played a total of ten guys and nine of those players scored. The one who didn’t? That would be Myron Gardner, who may have put together the loudest 4 minute, 0 point stint in quite some time. He always manages to get an opposing player riled up through his physicality and chirping, but the real impact is his defensive tenacity, two quick assists, and two offensive rebounds in that short stint. It’s been beneficial for him to get these short bursts with three rotation guys sidelined, but you can’t help but have this takeaway that Gardner should be logging some time no matter who is back in the mix. He just brings a different element, and this team needs “different.”

3. The young core having a night.

In a blowout performance, the Heat’s young core were the primary storylines along the way. Nikola Jovic had a really rough start to this game, including some turnovers and an airballed floater. He bounced right back from that as this style favored him: running the break, getting to the line, and finding his touch on his way to a big scoring night. Kasparas Jakucionis was the other topic, as he came up with a really big third quarter. Halfway through that quarter, he ran off 9 points with some aggressive attacks, a trip to the line, and a nice looking spot-up three. Pelle Larsson can jump into this conversation as well, having a strong offensive night in typical efficient fashion. When these three young pieces have good nights at the same time, it’s the easiest way to swing a game.