Game 2: Tuesday, November 9th, Utah Jazz @ Miami Heat
Second running diary of the season for the Jazz at the Heat on NBATV! I’ll also (hopefully) have some first person accounts and pictures from the game care of my friend Rob.
Quick setup:
Can the Jazz with Deron Williams and Al Jefferson take apart the Heat and catch them on a cold shooting night like the Hornets did last Friday or will Chris Bosh finally assert himself?
Starting Lineups:
D Williams Arroyo
Bell Wade
Kirilenko James
Millsap Bosh
Jefferson Anthony
First Heat possession they go right in to Bosh and he draws an early foul on Jefferson. Clear strategy from the Heat already. Get the ball inside, get Bosh comfortable, and try and get Jefferson in foul trouble early.
Inside to Bosh again, went into Millsap for a tough layup. Yes, tough and Bosh in the same sentence.
Next possession… you can tell James and Wade are figuring how to play together slowly but surely. James great pass to Wade underneath for a lay in.
Bosh! Top of key drive around Millsap, draws the double and dishes to James for yet another lay in. James block and assist to Bosh for top of key jumper. 11-7 Heat.
For some reason Bosh just settled for three straight jumpers. It’s like he went to the basket twice and said ok enough back to the 17 footers.
Joel Anthony turn around jumper then a follow lay in and he’s now taken his 6th and 7th shots OF THE SEASON SO FAR! 15-7 Heat, 6 mins left in 1st quarter, timeout Jazz. That was really weird.
15-0 Heat run, Jazz shooting 2 for 18. This might be the shortest running diary ever. Finally an easy shot with Kirilenko making a jumper from the corner. Timeout Heat to catch their breath, 22-9 with 3 mins left. Heat are all over the boards, blocking shots, and getting easy baskets at the other end. Jazz look like they never got off the plane. Bosh with 7 pts, 3 rebs and a block early.
End of 1st Quarter. 25-13 Heat. Miami shooting 52%, Jazz 22%. All things considered not terrible for the Jazz after they weathered that 15-0 run. Down only 12 after shooting 5-23 and being outrebounded 14-11 in the quarter.
LeBron playing point for the Heat with Wade and Bosh taking a breather. Getting good jumpers for his teammates Haslem and James Jones. 30-17 after a timeout, 8:30 left. Jazz looking a bit more comfortable after that 18-2 run the Heat on them earlier.
Jazz finally have a chance for a transition basket and Price has what should have been an easy dish to Kirilenko deflected. Of course that opportunity came with the Big Three all on the bench. I was under the impression the Heat never rested all three of them at the same time, or at least I figured one of them would always be out there. I suppose they can use this opportunity to develop their bench.
Heat bench with last 15 points for Miami. I love when NBATV does the games with the home commentators! 37-21, 5 mins left in the half. Also love when NBATV comes back from commercial early because the local spots don’t run and they analyze the game. Great piece on how the Heat are packing the lane and keeping D Will shooting jumpers.
D Wade just abused Gordon Hayward after Gordo had a nice reverse lay up at the other end. Patented up fake to earn two at the stripe. 41-25, 3 mins left.
D Will finally gets in the lane after splitting a double team. He finds Millsap for a lay in, Millsap with 11 points. LeBron seems to be in ‘Kobe-defer’ mode for lack of a better term. Only 4 points but he has 6 boards, 5 assists, a steal and a block.
D Wade along the base line in transition with a thunderous throw down! SIIIIIICK!
End of 1st Half. Jazz could’ve gotten it to 11 before the Wade’s dunk but the Heat go on a 9-3 run to close it out and lead 51-32 at halftime. 32 pts at half for the Jazz. Yikes.
Heat cold coming out of the half and D Will starts running and gets the Jazz going. Quick 11-4 run by the Jazz with Williams involved in almost every basket. Jazz also getting a couple transition buckets.
10 pts for LeBron after that layup and the announcers tell us that makes this his 286th straight game in double figures. Unreal!
Bosh and Millsap going back and forth. Bosh with 13 and 7 rebounds in the game now, Millsap with 27 points and 14 in the third quarter. LeBron starting to create for himself now. He’s got 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.
D Will great oop to Kirilenko cross court. He had two assists at half now he’s got 8. Kirilenko with a quiet 8 pts, 7 rebounds.
Text from Rob just now… “As an example how bad pricing got… 100 level 70% filled… Rest of stadium… Packed! “ No big surprise but still Cmon Miami! Hopefully, they’re waiting for the Celtics on Thursday.
Millsap playing out of his mind with 31 now and 38 of 62 Utah points in the paint. It may not happen tonight, but again come the East Finals and Finals the Heat have got to get this corrected somehow.
End of 3rd quarter. James is shooting 4-16 but he’s a couple rebounds away from a triple double. Check out my Four Bold Predictions for my MVP pick. Millsap keeping the Jazz in the game it’s 75-62 Heat. First time this season the Heat have been out scored in the third quarter.
Millsap doing it all! After a D Will drive and layup he takes a charge on LeBron. First chance the Jazz have had to get to single digits since the original 18-2 Heat run in the first quarter. Millsap forces up a runner but Fesenko with an offensive rebound and put back and we’ve got ourselves a game at 75-66!
CJ Miles takes advantage of a mis-dribble by LeBron and wisely throws down the open dunk before LeBron catches him from behind. CJ Miles making a difference with a drive and layin down to 7 all of a sudden after a 10-3 run! Timeout Miami, it sounds QUIET in the Triple A right now. 77-70 9 mins to go.
CJ Miles doing his best Millsap impersonation with 6 points in the first 3:30 of the quarter. Another Heat miss and D Will nails a long jumper for his 14th point. 14-3 Jazz run and it’s a three point game. Settle in, let’s see if the crowd wakes back up for the end of this.
CJ Miles again with the 48th point in the paint for Utah (24 for Miami). Two point game! LeBron comes back in the game to reassemble the Big Three for the final 7 minutes.
TIE GAME! D Will carves up the defense and kicks to the corner for a Ronnie Price. D Will now has 14 points and 10 assists after having 2 and 2 at halftime! What a comeback on the road for the Jazz. And now after a free throw line curl jumper from D Will and the Jazz have their first lead since 5-3!
Wade answers with a three. Bad defense by the Jazz on that possession. LeBron got doubled and that left Wade open in the corner. Pretty spin and dish by LeBron to James Jones who got FLATTENED by Ronnie Price! This could be big depending on what officials decide. Looks like Price got some ball even though he went in really hard. Not a foul in the 80s but a Flagrant 1 foul in the 10s.
Timeout, 82-81 Heat with 5:30 left. Amazing run (19-6) by the Jazz while Wade rested then James. Both were out there for equal parts of the run.
HAHA! C Webb defending Ronnie Price by saying that any time another player weighs 80 pounds less than you it can’t be a flagrant foul. Gotta love the guys that played before all the new rules.
JAMES TO WADE! Great connection by James to find him under the rim. Back up to a 7 point lead after a 9-0 run since losing the lead. What a response!
LeBron with 16 (5-17 FG), 13 and 10 now for his 29th career triple double and his first triple double with the Heat – 9th triple double in Heat history. First Heat triple double since SHAQ had one in April 2006 (thanks home announcers).
3 on 2 for the Jazz to make it a two point game and they turn it over! Wade knocked a pass away and off Kirilenko’s leg. Huge turnover and Haslem puts back his own miss to make it 6 now. D Will answers to bring it back to 4 and we’re under a minute.
James the closer? Drives right and draws the foul for a pair of free throws. Makes both for his fifth straight game with 20 points. And Bosh draws a charge on CJ Miles?! Jazz now forced to foul at 96-90 with 37 seconds left. Wade now with 28 points on the night. Bosh with 17 and 7.
Millsap and D Will back to back threes with Heat free throws mixed in. 19 seconds to go and it’s only a three point game at 99-96! Two free throws by Arroyo and another Millsap three! 39 points on 17-24 FGs. And another one! 42 for Millsap and it’s 103-102 with 4 seconds left!
Jazz are first team to score over 100 this year. Millsap highest point total ever by a Jazz player against the Heat. Jazz have scored an incredible 70 points in the second half after only 32 in the first half!
Wade bricks a free throw! This is incredible. Fans in disbelief, nervous tension in the air you can hear on TV. Makes the second but the Jazz have a chance for the WIN on the last possession. No D Will though after he fouled out.
Kirilenko to inbound. To the corner for CJ Miles missed it but Millsap follows it AND TIES THE GAME AT THE BUZZER! UNBELIEVABLE!! 44 points for MILLSAP AND WE’RE GOING TO OOOOOOOOOVERTIME!!! I AM STUNNED!!!! End of regulation! 72-51 Jazz outscored Heat in second half and 42-29 in the fourth.
Free throw advantage is 47-13 toward the Heat. Even more incredible we’re in overtime.
D WADE drops the hammer for his 34th point. SIIIICK DUNK WOW! Just kept on dribbling right through the paint and threw it down over Fesenko. A now a runner for D Wade, he’s got all 7 for Miami in OT. I think we have our closer argument settled. 111-107 Heat with 2:30 left.
Kirilenko with a MONSTER THREE after a couple Jazz free throws and Utah takes the lead back 112-111 with 1:45 left. Seriously incredible game!
Great defense by Bosh! Huge block on Millsap and grabs the putback rebound for this 9th rebound of the game. But Haslem misses a baseline jumper. Only one shot for the Heat again. Jazz turnover and a Wade miss with no foul called. Heat can’t get a second shot. Down to 24.6 seconds left with the Jazz up one.
Sloppy in bounds by the Jazz and a weird no call on James Jones but then a foul is called on Haslem. Jazz get the next in bounds pass in to Kirilenko and he’s fouled. HUGE FREE THROWS here - wouldn’t even be in OT if Miami had made all theirs. Makes em both and it’s Utah’s biggest lead of the game 114-111 with 20 seconds left.
Wade corner three OF COURSE! He’s got all of Miami’s points in overtime. We’re tied. He’s got 39, no Jazz timeout. Oh nooo! A laaate foul called with POINT FOUR SECONDS on Francisco Elson you got a dump off pass from Ronnie Price in the lane at the end. Hits the first… tries to miss the second but banks it in. 116-114 with .4 seconds left. Crowd is stunned. I can’t believe an amazing game like this ends on a foul with .4 seconds. Replay looks like D Wade fouled him on the shot attempt but still tough to make that call. Wow.
Last play, need a tip in. Quick toss up shot by Eddie House (?!?) has no chance. And the Jazz win. I can’t believe I’m typing that after it was 51-32 at halftime. Jazz win 116-114 in OT with no D Will in OT, Millsap scoring 46 points, and FRANCISCO ELSON HITTING THE GAME WINNING FREE THROWS.
Heat have to clean up the pieces from this one quickly because the Celtics are set to make a HUGE statement on Thursday night if they can back up their opening night win with a win in Miami.
Heat have to clean up the pieces from this one quickly because the Celtics are set to make a HUGE statement on Thursday night if they can back up their opening night win with a win in Miami.
I'm so excited for the start of the season I decided to do a running diary for the much-anticipated Heat-Celtics game. I dvr'd the game so that's why this is going up so late.
Shaq inside on the first possession. No secret where the Celtics are going to go in game one of the season and in the playoffs... INSIDE! Shaq and Garnett in the paint are MONSTERS. Heat need to keep the ball on the perimeter and get out and run.
Rondo 18 footer? Nope. I hope he spent all summer working on that shot for Celtics fans' sake.
LeBron's first four shots for the Heat are long jumpers. His shot looks smooth but he's yet to go to the basket and try and draw fouls on Garnett or Shaq. Also, nothing inside for Bosh whatsoever either.
Wow! Rondo just throws it up and Shaq hammers it home. I'm guessing there will be A LOT of that throughout the season. Shaq might even find a way to break a couple back boards this season. Rondo trail pass to Shaq and I legitimately thought the basket was coming down!
Timeout Heat down 11-6 early! Celtics are hitting shots, getting to the rim, even getting out and running with Rondo. Heat look like everyone thought they would to start the season - a little tentative, poorly spaced, and not fluent at all.
LeBron James in the post out of a timeout! Could it be he finally picked a weak part of his game and worked on it all summer a la Kobe Bryant??
LeBron's first chase down from behind block of the season on Rondo. Good to know those are still alive and well. Those have probably replaced the dunk as the most exciting plays to anticipate in the game.
End of the first quarter. LeBron and Wade both have three turnovers and are shooting a combined 2-11. Celtics lead 16-9. I wish that was a typo.
A missed jumper and another turnover for Wade to start the second quarter. There's obviously no reason to overreact to this over the long haul, but clearly the time off with the hamstring injury has affected him.
I really can't believe Chris Bosh makes more than Wade and James. I know that was how the deals were structured and all that but my God, what a travesty. He's now 1-6 FG and has maaaybe one offensive rebound.
So far the problems everyone thought the Heat would have, namely, no low post presence, shaky defense, no point guard unless Wade or James do it, and a shoddy bench have all reared their ugly heads. Another Heat timeout, 25-13 Celtics with 8:23 left in the second.
I don't think I've ever seen D Wade play like this. He just hit the side of the backboard and is now 1-9 FG, and then promptly through an ill-advised cross court pass for another turnover.
There's the D Wade we know and love! Jumps the passing and cruises in for the easy dunk. Maybe that will get him going. Heat now picking up the pace a little bit and close it to 31-20, time out Celtics with 5:29 in the second.
Garnett misses an easy follow up a dunk, but Celtics get the tap out and there's Ray Ray to nail the tre. Classic Celtics play right there. Lead is up to 38-20. James 2-7, Wade 2-9, Bosh 1-7. Sure it's going to take a while for them to come together as a team but those are still some staggering figures.
Wooooow! Literally yelled out loud in my room by myself on that James dunk. Good choice by Eddie House to leave that for LBJ and get out of the way.
End of first half. Celtics lead 45-30. The lowest Heat halftime point total all of last season was 32 points. James and Wade haven't clicked at all on the offensive end, and Bosh has been downright awful. I know they'll work out a lot of these kinks and won't be playing the Celtics every night, but I'm already projecting this type of suffocating defense to the playoffs and thinking that this is the blueprint for beating this Super Team. Keep them on the perimeter and force them to make shots. James, Wade and Bosh have never been heralded for their outside shooting so unless Mike Miller is the missing piece come the second half of the season, I'm already worried for the Heat in June versus the Celtics and potentially Lakers in the Finals. They have the talent to blow by 95% of the league but all these moves to South Beach were to win multiple titles starting this season.
I can't Shaq 'looks good' but he's got 8 points and 6 rebounds and has looked reasonably in shape (for Shaq anyway). Granted this is Joel Anthony not Dwight Howard but still a good sign for the C's that he seems to care this early in the season.
I wish Ray Allen and Reggie Miller could have some sort of shooting contest at the All Star game where they run through obstacle courses and hit jumpers. How awesome would that to be watch?!
I've now watched the entire first half and 4 minutes of the third quarter and have not seen one play where LeBron and Wade were on the same page. This is like watching and awkward All Star game when two guys don't mesh together, throw the ball over the court, space themselves poorly, and then say 'Screw it, I'm going one on one.'
For what it's worth, I love having Steve Kerr back calling games. He just compared the Celtics to the Steelers. Never thought of that comparison but makes perfect sense - minus the Roethlisberger thing. They kind of suck to watch, have die hard fan bases that are almost irrationally in love with every one of their players, and they both win with defense and grind down the clock.
Seeing LeBron struggle in the post will always remind me of the story from last summer when Kobe realized he needed to improve his post game... so he called Hakeem Olajuwon and worked on it all summer.
Heat finally get it down to ten at 55-45 and there's Ray Ray again. He looks like he'll be able to run through screens and knock down shots like this for five more years.
LeBron somehow has 19 points on 6-14 FGs and free throws. Seriously remarkable. This is why I still think he'll win the MVP this season. And as I typed M-V-P he knocked down another jumper, 21 points, timeout Celtics, 62-50 with 2 minutes left in the third.
The Heat must call this set 'Cleveland' in their playbook because with Wade on the bench, it's the LeBron over-dribble show and force things show now. But somehow it seems to be working because it's now under ten at 63-55 with 52 seconds left in the third. Unreal, but at the same time, I seem to remember the Celtics giving away leads all last season as well.
That's the LeBron James that can dominate and take over the game! Splits a double team, crab dribble/jump stop thing around a third defender and a reverse lay in. 63-57 after three and the previously riled up crowd is SILENT. Closest it's been since 14-9. End of the third quarter.
Sick move by Rondo for a lay in, only two FGs but 14 assists. He really makes this team go. Last year was the weird transition from the Big Three to the Big Four, but this season I really think this is Rondo's team if he steps up and takes it.
GREAT PIECE during a timeout by Kerr (again) about the Heat setting their screen-rolls further out instead of below the three point line which is opening the driving line for LeBron and letting him get a head of steam instead of being met by the Celtics defense near the paint.
Wade still hasn't found it and continues to barrel into the lane without converting. An offensive foul and a forced shot later, Pierce hits a three, all with LeBron on the bench. Timeout Heat, 73-64 Celtics with seven minutes left.
Next to the chase down block sequence, I think the back-to-back three sequence is the second most exciting play in the game now. James Jones does his best Mike Miller impression, but Pierce comes back with his trademark counter. You can tell Pierce wants this game and wants to own this fourth quarter after what LeBron did in the third.
Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have SOUNDLY outplayed Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade this entire game. This is going to come down to what heroics LeBron can pull out because he's basically out there by himself, ironically just like he was in Cleveland for those seven years. 83-72 with 3:30 left - show us what you got LeBron, show us it's your team.
WOW! GREAT OVERRATED CHANT by the Celtics fans. I wonder if that will catch on in other arenas when the Heat come to town.
Wade his the side of the backboard again! I'm really shocked at how bad he's been. Usually he's good to get to the rim, get a couple lay ups or get fouled, and then the rest of his game follows that, but he hasn't been in any sort of rhythm at all tonight.
(Quick side note, the announcers just said a local radio station auctioned four tickets for the game tonight for $11,200 that went to charity. This is the first game of the season. Jesus.)
Aaaaaand D Wade comes down, does a stagger dribble, backs up and NAILS a three. Turnover by the Celtics and LeBron blows by Pierce for a lay up. 83-80 Celtics with 1:10 left. I think we might find out who's going to take the last shot for the Heat. LeBron now with 31!
RAY ALLEN with a hand in his grill and he nails it. He's 5-8 from three with 20 points. That shot was insane but I still hate his mom and her bedazzled jersey. After two Pierce free throws he now has 19 with 11 coming in the fourth quarter.
And that's it! Wade and James get double and triple teamed on the last possession so former Celtic Eddie House takes the last shot for the Heat. Final 88-80 Celtics.
James 31 points, 10-21 FG
Wade 13 points, 4-16 FG
Bosh 8 points, 3-11 FG
Post game interview with Rondo after his 17 assists. Craig Sager flat out asks 'Is Miami the team to beat in the East?' Rondo calmly replies with, 'I think we are,' and walks away.
