Heat escape Utah with 1-point win
SALT LAKE CITY -- Goran Dragic scored 27 points and James Johnson added 24 off the bench to help the Miami Heat escape with a 111-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.
Wayne Ellington added 17 points off the bench for the Heat. Miami (7-12) weathered a late Jazz comeback to earn its third straight road victory.
Gordon Hayward scored a season-high 32 points -- his second consecutive game with at least 30 points -- and Joe Johnson added 18 to lead Utah. Joe Ingles added 15 points and Trey Lyles chipped in 14 for the Jazz.
Utah (11-9) played without its usual starting backcourt. Both George Hill (sprained toe) and Rodney Hood (hamstring strain) were sidelined with injuries. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Jazz.
Utah rallied from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter, cutting Miami's lead to one when Hayward drilled a jumper to make it 111-110 with 1:00 left. Hayward missed a go-ahead 3-pointer moments later, but Ingles stole the ball from Dragic with 3.9 seconds left to give the Jazz another chance to set up a game-winning basket.
Hayward unloaded a jumper that glanced off the rim. Rudy Gobert collected the rebound and got a putback basket to go, but it came after the buzzer.
Dragic gave Miami a brief spark after some early first quarter offensive doldrums from both teams. He scored on three straight possessions to push the Heat out to a 13-8 lead.
Hayward and Johnson each answered with back-to-back baskets to help the Jazz edge in front 21-18. Utah made 9-of-10 shots over a seven minute stretch, culminating in a 3-pointer from Lyles that gave the Jazz a 30-26 lead on their first second quarter possession.
Miami didn't trail for long in the second quarter. The Heat scorched Utah with a 17-2 run to build up a 50-36 lead before halftime. Ellington put Miami ahead on a pair of free throws and a long jumper and James Johnson finished it off with the third of three baskets he scored during that stretch.
The Jazz finally halted the run behind back-to-back baskets from Johnson and Lyles. It turned into a 12-2 run, culminating in a tip-in basket from Gobert, that cut Miami's lead to 52-48 at halftime.
Utah finally went ahead 61-60 in the third quarter. Johnson and Hayward hit 3-pointers a minute apart to get the Jazz within a point and then Hayward added a pair of go-ahead free throws a short time later.
The Heat rattled off eight unanswered points, highlighted by back-to-back layups from Dragic to retake the lead. Miami stayed a step ahead of Utah entering the fourth quarter, eventually going up 89-77 by dominating in the paint. James Johnson, Tyler Johnson and Willie Reed all cut to the baskets on three straight possessions to get easy baskets.
The Jazz did not go away. Hayward drilled a jumper and then found Ingles for a driving layup to help Utah cut Miami's lead to 107-105 with 2:48 left.
NOTES: G George Hill did not play because of a sprained left big toe. Hill missed eight games earlier this season with a sprained right thumb. He is averaging 20 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 11 games for Utah. ... Jazz G Rodney Hood did not play because of right hamstring strain. ... Utah G Josh Richardson missed his second straight game because of a sprained right ankle. ... C Hassan Whiteside led Miami in rebounding in each of the team's first 18 games this season. It is the longest overall streak in Heat franchise history. The last player to lead their team in rebounding in as many consecutive games was Ben Wallace, who led Detroit in that category over 33 games during the 2002-03 season. ... F Gordon Hayward averaged 26.0 points in Utah's five previous regular-season games against Miami before Thursday.