Reserve Brice Sensabaugh knocked in a go-ahead 3-pointer with 46.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter as the visiting Utah Jazz shocked the Miami Heat 115-111 on Monday night.
Utah, which entered Monday with 18 losses in its 22 previous games, led 85-82 after three quarters. However, for the second straight game, the Jazz benched multiple starters for the entire fourth quarter in an apparent effort to tank.
The Jazz did something similar in their previous game, blowing a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter in a loss to Orlando after sitting Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen. At issue is that Utah owes Oklahoma City its first-rounder in June unless that selection is among the first eight picks.
The benched Jazz starters on Monday were Jackson (team-high 22 points), Lauri Markkanen (17 points) and Jusuf Nurkic (10 points, game-high 16 rebounds). Sensabaugh wound up with 14 points for Utah, while Ace Bailey and Kyle Filipowski posted 16 apiece. Filipowski added 11 rebounds.
Miami was led by Andrew Wiggins, who scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter. Bam Adebayo added 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Heat.
Rookie Kasparas Jakucionis, Miami’s first-round pick, scored 20 points. However, he missed a corner 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left that would’ve given Miami a 114-113 lead.
Miami, thanks to 50% shooting overall and 7-of-15 on 3-pointers, led 32-26 after one quarter. The Jazz shot just 28.6% in that quarter but stayed in the game by grabbing seven offensive rebounds to just one for Miami.
With 3:44 left in the second quarter, Filipowski scored on a putback for Utah’s first lead of the game, 47-45. The half ended as Isaiah Collier took a short inbounds pass, pounded three dribbles and connected on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Jazz ahead 61-52.
Jackson and Jakucionis led their respective teams with 17 first-half points.
In the third quarter, Adebayo led all scorers with 11 points as Miami made a run.
With 4:30 left in the fourth, Miami took a 104-101 lead on a 3-pointer by Wiggins. With reduced firepower, the Jazz appeared to be doomed at that point, but they surprised the Heat.
In the closing minutes, Sensabaugh nailed a triple to get Utah within 108-106, Bailey’s floater trimmed it to 109-108 and Collier’s fadeaway put the Jazz within 111-110.
