Dwyane Wade survives scare, but Heat can't overcome Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY - The last time the Miami Heat faced the Utah Jazz, it limited Utah to 70 points, winning by 10 last month at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Monday, Utah reached that total midway through the third quarter. And never looked back.

Falling for the second time in the first three games of this six-game Western Conference swing, about the only good that came out of this 118-89 loss for the Heat at EnergySolutions Arena was that Dwyane Wade came out of it with right wrist mostly intact.

Taking a hard fall on the wrist late in the opening period while going for a long rebound, Wade went to the locker room with what was diagnosed as a sprain.

"I just re-aggravated it," Wade said of what had been a lingering injury. "We'll take an X-ray and see."

No sooner did Wade return midway through the second quarter then the Jazz broke the game open with a 17-6 run.

"We did not respond mentally, more than physically," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "This game we didn't show the mental resolve."

Spoelstra said he let his players hear about it and said they will continue to hear about it as the Heat turns its attention to the next stop of this trip, Wednesday's game against the Golden State Warriors.

"We're all disappointed and angry," he said.

For Wade, it just kept getting worse. He was called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by fellow Marquette alum Wes Matthews with two-tenths of a second remaining in the third quarter. Matthews converted the final two of the three attempts for a 90-71 Jazz lead heading into the final period.

"They definitely played harder than us," Heat power forward Udonis Haslem said. "We've got to try to figure this out as a unit."

It was a night when little went right for the Heat, with forward Michael Beasley limited to seven first-half minutes and then called for his fourth foul 33 seconds into the third quarter.

Finally, with the Heat down 95-71 with 11:05 to play, Spoelstra tossed in the towel, much as he did late in Sunday's 94-84 loss to the Clippers, removing Wade and most of the starters.

Wade closed with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, his lowest-scoring game of the season. His previous low had been 15 against Atlanta on Nov. 18. It was just the fifth time he was held below 20 points this season. He entered averaging 27.

Wade said he never had a reason to truly test the wrist.

"I wasn't going to force any up," he said.

Wade said on a night the Jazz shot 57.1 percent from the field and 9 of 15 on 3-pointers, also racing to a 28-7 edge on fastbreak points, even the best of the Heat might not have been enough.

"It just happened," he said, with the Heat falling one point short of its most-lopsided loss of the season. "They played very well. It wasn't a game we could walk through and then wake up."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan went a bit longer with his starters, with point guard Deron Williams finishing with 23 points and 10 assists, and forward Carlos Boozer contributing 25 points and 11 rebounds.

Beasley, allowed to play through the meaningless late minutes, led the Heat with 20 points, the rare recent game when he produced more late than early.