Utah Jazz pull off an incredible win to edge out Miami Heat 116-114; Paul Millsap star of the show
Miami Heat had won 11 of the past 13 meetings encounters against the Utah Jazz and they looked set for another cakewalk but Paul Millsap and his team had other ideas as they rallied back for one of the most vociferous comebacks
in the recent history of the League to outsmart the Miami Heat in overtime by 2 points.
Paul Millsap played out of his skin as he brought his team back into the match from nowhere as Utah Jazz defied all odds to beat Miami 116-114 in a nerve-jangling thriller. Millsap, who scored a career high 46 points in the match,
pulled in a last second jump shot to tie the scores and take the match to overtime. Francisco Elson got two free in the dying seconds of the overtime and he made it count, as Utah pulled off a famous victory over the much vaunted Miami Heat.
The match started with Miami in an attacking mood as they sprinted to a 15-0 run midway in the first quarter to finish it at 25-13. Utah Jazz missed 15 shots in the opening quarter and had no answer to the formidable offensive
battery of Miami as their defense floundered.
The Heats maintained their momentum in the second quarter as well and blew past Utah Jazz, continuously outrunning and outmaneuvering them. The teams went into the locker room with the score poised at 51-32 and Miami set for an
easy victory.
Utah started to up the ante in the third period with Paul Millsap leading the way. He scored 19 points, as Jazz outscored the Heat 30-24 in the quarter to enter the fourth quarter at 75-62.
Jazz really put the foot on the pedal in the beginning of the fourth quarter. They completely blanked the Miami defense to take the lead at 81-79 with 6:20 to go in the match. In what turned out to be the turning point of the match,
Utah kept Miami scoreless for four and a half minutes. Dwyane Wade slipped in a three-pointer to hand the lead back to Miami and converted two free throws to stretch it at 98-90 with 37 seconds to go.
With Miami seemingly in control again, Utah made three 3-point shots within a span of 16 seconds. Millsap scored two of those three and then pulled made a jump a shot in the last second to take the match into overtime.
Miami, clearly stunned by the Jazz comeback, took an early lead as a Dwyane Wade driving layup shot put them up by four points with 2:42 to go. Jazz bounced right back as Andrei Kirilenko slipped in a 3-pointer and then converted
two free throws to give Utah a 114-111 lead with 20 seconds to go. Wade nailed a three-pointer to level the scores, but Francisco Elson slipped in two free throws to again hand the advantage to Jazz with 4 seconds left in the game.
Miami scrambled for a win in the dying seconds, but Eddie House missed a 3-pointer and Utah clung on to a 2-point victory at 116-114.
With Millsap firing on both cylinders at the other end, Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat; he scored 39 points including all of their 10 points in overtime. LeBron James had another excellent all round game as he scored 20 points
with 14 assists and 11 boards while Chris Bosh also scored 17 points. The effort of the ‘Big Three’, however, was not enough to help the Heats cross the line as they suffered their third defeat in the season.
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