SALT LAKE CITY — On a trip that has taken them west, the Miami Heat were in danger of going further south.
There was the blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets that left Markieff Morris dazed after his run-in with Nikola Jokic. The overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers after leading by nine late in the fourth quarter. Then the blown 17-point lead in the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
And then came Saturday against the Utah Jazz, when Jimmy Butler was out, Bam Adebayo was questionable a hour before tipoff, and Kyle Lowry left the court woozy in the first quarter.
Against that backdrop, the three-game losing streak came to a close with a 111-105 somewhat harrowing victory at Vivint Arena, in a game Duncan Robinson regained his stroke, Adebayo showed his perseverance and Lowry went from dazed to dazzling.
In defeating the Jazz for the second consecutive Saturday, the Heat got 27 points from Tyler Herro, 22 from Robinson, 21 and 13 apiece from Adebayo and P.J. Tucker, who also had 11 rebounds.
The Heat’s lead reached 27 in the third quarter, with the Heat going into the fourth up 95-69.
But then, up 109-87 with 4:31 left, the Heat saw that led trimmed to 109-99 with 1:46 to play, similar to the Jazz’s near comeback a week earlier at FTX Arena.
An air-ball jumper by Herro followed, with a Rudy Gobert dunk making it 109-101. Tucker then was called for an illegal screen with 45.4 seconds to go, with a Donovan Mitchell jumper and a Bojan Bogdanovic layup following to extend the Jazz’s surge to 18-0 and make it 109-105 with 14.5 seconds left.
Herro then was fouled with 10.9 seconds left, making both free throws for a 111-105 lead, effectively putting it away.
The Heat led by 16 in the first quarter, before going into the second period up 27-24. They then pushed back to an 18-point lead before taking a 58-48 lead into halftime.
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:
1. Robinson returns: In the midst of a brutal shooting slump that had him 5 of 24 on 3-pointers in the previous two games and 15 of 54 in the previous five, Robinson was 3 of 6 from beyond the arc in the first period and 4 of 9 before being forced to the bench for the balance of the half with his third foul with 3:54 left in the second quarter.
With his first 3-pointer, Robinson extended his franchise record to 61 consecutive games with at least one conversion.
Robinson’s fifth 3-pointer gave him a season high.
He closed 6 of 11 on 3-pointers.
2. Down (and back up) goes Lowry: Lowry went to the locker room with 7:05 left in the first quarter after drawing a charge on Mitchell but also taking a Mitchell elbow to the face and knee to the groin in the process.
He was replaced by Gabe Vincent, the only other available point guard on the roster.
The Heat led 9-5 when Lowry went out, Lowry 1 of 3 from the field to that stage, with two points and two rebounds.
Lowry then returned with 1:27 left in the opening period, with Vincent with two fouls at that stage, going on to score 10 points in the third quarter.
The Heat went into Saturday leading the NBA with 17 charges absorbed, with Lowry then painfully adding to that total.
3. Still short: While Adebayo was able to play through the knee swelling that earlier in the day had him listed as questionable, the Heat were without Butler for the second consecutive game due to a sprained right ankle.
That had Herro back in the starting lineup, with Caleb Martin and Max Strus in the rotation.
Martin’s run included playing two second-quarter possessions with one shoe, the Heat getting a stop and a 3-pointer during that sequence.
4. Zoning out: As was the case in Thursday night’s loss to the Clippers, the Heat turned to zone defense early.
While that helped them build their early 16-point lead, the Jazz eventually cracked the code with Jordan Clarkson’s 3-point shooting, with last season’s Sixth Man Award winner closing the first period with 14 points in 5:28 of action in the quarter.
The Heat nonetheless stayed with the approach far longer than against the Clippers, leading to 28 Utah 3-point attempts in the first half.
Prior to the loss to the Clippers, the Heat had utilized zone defense for three possessions in their first 11 games.
5. Board silly: The Heat got back to the rebounding dominance that had defined the success start of their season, with Tucker with five offensive rebounds in the first half to the Jazz team total of four.
Tucker again played as energizer, essential for a team seven days into a trip, with Monday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder remaining.
