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SALT LAKE CITY — Ochai Agbaji's hands shot to his head after the play: A bit of frustration, disbelief and regret all rolled into one.
With the Jazz trailing by 2 points, the rookie wing passed up an open look from 3-point range to drive to the hoop, and was met there by Miami's Bam Adebayo. Agbaji tried to scoop a shot around Adebayo, but the Miami center was able to get his long arms on the ball to help secure a Heat victory in Miami on Monday.
Behind Agbaji was an open Walker Kessler signaling for a lob.
You can call it a learning experience for the young Jazz, who finished their six-game road trip with a 119-115 loss to the Heat.
Utah, in customary and surprising fashion, had its chances on Monday. Two weeks ago, most would have had Monday's game marked as a loss — and probably wouldn't have thought twice doing it with a Sharpie. The last of a six-game, 13-day road trip doesn't often bode well for the visitors.
Yet, with 1:16 left in the game, Talen Horton-Tucker made a step-back midrange jumper to give the Jazz a 1-point lead. It was the 46th time this season the Jazz have played in a clutch game — considered a contest within 5 points in the last five minutes. That's the second most in the league.
No. 1 on that list? The Miami Heat.
So maybe a tight game wasn't a surprise after all. And, like they have done all season, the Heat found a way to win.
Tyler Herro hit a 3-pointer on Miami's ensuing possession — a shot that ended up putting the Heat up for good in the back-and-forth affair
Lauri Markkanen responded from his worst shooting night of the season with yet another masterclass; he scored 38 points on 14-of-26 shooting and added eight rebounds. But even he went a bit cold down the stretch. The Jazz made just one field goal in the final 3:30 of the game — the shot by Horton-Tucker.
"Kind of forget it," Markkanen said of the poor shooting night. "We won that game (in Charlotte), so I was happy about that. I kind of knew that that's hopefully a kind of a one-off and to stay aggressive and come come back with the same mindset and keep going."
Markkanen scored just 6 of his points on 2-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter as he tried to force the issue a bit.
"Unfortunately, not enough, but we'll learn from it," he said.
While Horton-Tucker came back to earth after his career night in Charlotte — he followed up the 27-point near triple-double with just 9 points on 3-of-13 shooting — Simone Fontecchio was the newest surprise.
Fontecchio erupted in Miami and had a career-high 23 points, including 20 in the first half, in the loss. He was 8-for-17 from the field and hit five 3-pointers; but like Markkanen, he struggled down the stretch and missed his final three shots.
"He was good. He stayed aggressive. We know how good of a shooter he is," Markkanen said. "And just needed to see a couple go down. Happy for him. He got the opportunity and we kept feeding him. Great shooter."
Utah dropped to 33-36 on the season and slid out of play-in tournament position as the team slid all the way to 12th in the ever-changing Western Conference. The Jazz are just a half-game behind eighth place. Who knows where they will be the next time they take the court, though. The Jazz don't play again until Saturday — and then will begin the toughest remaining schedule in the league.
