Although the Miami Heat have three of the NBA’s best players on its roster, it was generally understood that the team would lack an interior offensive presence.

On Tuesday night at home against the Utah Jazz, it seemed that they also lacked an interior defensive presence.

While LeBron James and Dwayne Wade prove to be physically overpowering specimens in their respective positions, the Utah Jazz’s strength lies in their point guard (Deron Williams) and power forward (Paul Millsap).  The Heat have Chris Bosh, but his fragility along with Joel Anthony’s ineffectiveness allowed Millsap to have a field day.

In a game in which the Heat held a 22-point lead – at home – they squandered it away and enabled the visiting Jazz to pull out a 116-114 overtime victory.

Millsap was the story.  With Miami threatening to pull away in the third quarter, the Louisiana Tech alum poured in 18 points in the period to keep hope alive for Utah.  Williams got into a groove as well, as he ran Jerry Sloan’s patented pick-and-roll sets to perfection – with the result often being a strong conversion in the paint by Millsap.

The Jazz never threw in the towel in this game, and they were ultimately rewarded for it.  The Heat made amny miscues that led to their demise.  They split several pairs of free throws down the stretch of the fourth quarter.  They allowed Utah to have too many points in the paint.  They surrendered a couple of conventional three point plays to Williams – fouling him on fast break layup tries.  

Millsap and Williams put the Jazz in position to steal a win in South Beach.

Millsap ended the night with 46 points on 19-28 shooting, including an uncanny 3-3 on three-point attempts.  After an invisible first half, Williams picked up his game to the tune of 21 points and 14 assists.  Along with some timely contributions from C.J. Miles and Andrei Kirilenko, the point guard/power forward combo controlled the tempo of the contest.

The Jazz win provides a blueprint for attacking the Heat.  A point guard/big man screen and roll is effective against Miami for a couple of reason:

- PG and PF are two of Miami’s weak positions from a defensive standpoint

- the Heat were trapping the screen and roll…meaning that good passing will find an open man

A disciplined team like the Jazz were able to overcome a 22-point deficit on Miami’s home floor. 

LeBron should call his Nike reps, and have them confiscate the tapes of this game.  The Heat need to do everything that they possibly can to make this game disappear.

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