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Heat-Jazz Preview

Jan 11, 2010 - 4:52 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Miami (18-16) at Utah (20-17), 9:00 p.m. EDT

The last meeting between the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz turned into a defensive battle with both teams delivering one of their worst offensive performances of the season.

With the Heat coming off another offensive dud that prompted Dwyane Wade to criticize their lack of consistency, Miami might need another strong defensive outing to beat Utah again.

The Heat look to bounce back with their fifth straight win over the Jazz on Monday night in Salt Lake City.

Miami (18-17) continued its recent domination of Utah (20-17) on Dec. 23, winning for the 11th time in the teams' last 12 meetings. Though their final matchup last season was a triple-overtime shootout during which they totaled 269 points, the teams weren't nearly as productive in their first meeting this season with Miami taking an 80-70 home victory.

The Heat shot a season-low 36.0 percent while the Jazz connected on 37.5 percent of their shots, and the teams combined for 62 points in the first half. Wade was the only player to score more than 18 points, finishing with 29.

Wade is averaging 31.6 points in his last five games, but Miami lost for the fifth time in seven games Sunday, falling 94-84 to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Heat shot 39.3 percent and trailed by 19 in the first half. Wade finished with 24 points and Michael Beasley had 20, but third-leading scorer Jermaine O'Neal was held to two points and Udonis Haslem, who scored in double digits the previous four games, managed only six.

"We've had two teams all year," Wade said. "We've had Miami, and we've got the Heat, and this was Miami today. We came out the wrong way. ... We got behind the 8-ball early and never could recover."

It was the fifth time in nine games since facing Utah that the Heat were held to fewer than 95 points. Wade sat out the final 8:21 in preparation for Monday's game.

"This was disappointing, to have a game like this," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We were never really in it, even from the beginning. It was just a different level of energy."

The 70 points Miami gave up to Utah is the fewest it's allowed this season. The Jazz topped 100 points just once over their next five games, but they've bounced back, winning two of the last three while averaging 105.7 points.

Utah is coming off a 111-93 victory over Dallas on Saturday. Deron Williams returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a wrist injury and finished with 20 points and nine assists to lead six players in double figures. The Jazz shot 53.2 percent and didn't allow the lead to fall below 13 points in the game's final 21 minutes.

"We've blown leads here a couple of times, so we wanted to keep executing and keep doing the things that got us the lead and I think we did a better job of doing that today," Williams said.

Williams didn't score in the fourth quarter as his wrist tightened up again. He's averaged 15.5 points in his last four home games against the Heat.

Wade, who has a 10-1 career record against Utah, has averaged 27.0 points and 7.4 assists while shooting 50.0 percent to help Miami win four of five in Salt Lake City.