NBA: Miami Heat vs. Utah Jazz Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Miami Heat travel to Salt Lake City to face the unstoppable Utah Jazz, who is topping the league right now. Jazz, led by Donovan Mitchell, looks better than ever, and last night’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks was just another display of their dominance. Meanwhile, the Heat are finally starting to play like East champions should do, and all that began once Jimmy Butler came back into the lineup. The prolific forward is definitely among the best players in the entire NBA, and his contribution to the floor is indispensable for the Heat.

Preview

Miami Heat (11-14, TBA) has four in a row, beating the Wizards, New York Knicks on back-to-back events, and finally the Houston Rockets in the latest event that saw them kicking off a seven-game road trip through the West. During this stretch, the Heat will play all the big dogs in the conference, including the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Jazz, etc.

The above-mentioned Jimmy Butler scored 27 in that event, notching a triple-double with 10 assists and rebounds added as well. He was 10-for-11 from the free-throw line, and led the Heat in scoring.

A pleasant surprise for the Heat was the 24-year old shooting guard Max Strus, who came off the bench to score 21 points, hitting five threes in 25 minutes, not having a single board, assists, steal, or turnover. He replaced well Tyler Herro, who was out due to COVID health and safety protocols. Herro is expected to play against the Jazz.

Utah Jazz (21-5) routinely dismantled one of the best league teams, led by the back-to-back MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, 129-115. Not once during the entire event did the Bucks threatened to come back into the match or to make it even interesting. From the tip-off until the end, it was all about the Jazz.

Utah allowed 33 boards to Milwaukee and limited Giannis to just two points in the first half, something not remembered for a while. Overall, the Bucks were looking helpless.

Quin Snyder’s side had four players with 20 or more points, with Rudy Gobert posting a double-double 27 points and 12 boards with 4 blocks. Joe Ingles had the same number of points, dropping seven threes, while Donovan Mitchell added one bucket fewer. Jordan Clarkson came off the bench to deliver 21.

Head to Head Matches

The Jazz won both matches last year. The one in Utah ended 129-115 for the hosts, while the one on the road saw a similar difference, 131-118.

Prediction

With the Jazz on fire, it would be stupid to be against them at the moment. Every aspect of their play is at the highest possible level, and you can see that in each game played since the season started. When needed to defend, they make stops, when they need to attack, they have at least five players able of dropping 20 or more points. So we are backing up their win here, and for all of you brave ones, go with them beating the Heat by 10 or more points, because the odds on that choice are superb.