Nurkic makes Jazz history, but rebounding lifts Miami to dominating win over Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — If anyone tells you scoring is the only thing that matters in the NBA, they're wrong. The ability to rebound is still one of the most integral parts of winning — and a lost art at times in today's NBA.

The Miami Heat cleaned up the glass all night long Saturday, which told the story in the Heat's 147-116 victory over the Jazz. It was the eighth time this season Utah has allowed more than 140 points in a game.

In total, Utah was outrebounded 64-34, as Miami turned the tide of the game in the second quarter by dominating the Jazz on the boards to help take a commanding lead that bled into the rest of the contest.

"That was as big a physical loss as you could have when we just got obliterated on the glass," Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. "You lose the glass by 30, give them 26 offensive rebounds, there's not really a pathway to winning in that game."

But Jusuf Nurkic made history as he, once again, recorded a triple-double in his third straight game. With a triple-double in three consecutive games, Nurkic becomes the first Jazz player to accomplish the feat.

Nukic continued to connect with his teammates for buckets, finding them as they cut to the basket, and posted 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the loss.

"It's a great statistical achievement," Hardy said. "We lost by 30. I recognize the statistical achievements in this league are important and they indicate how special individuals can be in different moments."

The game wasn't always out of hand, though, and looked early it would be competitive throughout; but the second-chance points began to pile up for the Heat. Miami registered 36 rebounds in the first half, with 19 coming on the offensive glass.

Crashing the boards provided plenty of opportunities for the Heat — and they took full advantage. Miami recorded 26 offensive rebounds, which led to 23 second-chance points to make things easy, and the lead ballooned to as much as 34.

Once Miami took a double-digit lead, they never looked back. Utah kept fighting, but the damage had been done. And with the Heat also shooting the ball better from 3-point range than the Jazz, the gap only widened.

Miami's Bam Adebayo gave Utah problems all night and scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the heat. Nikola Jovic also recorded a double-double for the Heat, totaling 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Jazz have lacked size and intensity to be a good rebounding team this season; and outside of Nurkic, Kyle Filipowski, theoretically, should be better in the paint but has struggled mightily when asked to play the center position.

The impact that Walker Kessler makes for Utah has been apparent this season despite Nurkic providing some great minutes.

The Jazz lack a prominent rim protector with Kessler out and no other true center behind Nurkic. As such, Utah can be easily beat on rebounds if other players aren't making it a priority.

"I think in that game, you're spread out, they're playing dribble-drive," Hardy said. "It's a lot of crackdown windows on cutters and crashers. It takes everybody to do it. One possession is this person; one possession, it's that person, it's not an individual's fault. It was a collective issue tonight."

The Jazz remain at home for three games next week, with the next matchup coming against the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a primetime slate on NBC.

Related topics