By David Locke, Utah Jazz

Summary: A third quarter shutdown by the Jazz’s defense led the Jazz to their fourth win on the five-game road trip in a 102-91 win over the Heat. Gordon Hayward scored over 20 for the fifth straight game on the trip with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

Miami is an offensively challenged team, similar to Orlando, and the Jazz put the defensive clamps down on them in the third quarter. Miami didn’t get a field goal in the third until the 6:19 mark of the quarter. In that time, the Jazz turned a five-point halftime lead to a 15-point lead, and the game was basically over.

The Jazz just wrapped up a 4-1 road trip in which George Hill played one game, Derrick Favors only played six minutes of the last game and Boris Diaw and Alec Burks didn’t play. That is four of the 10-man rotation, and the Jazz got through it without much damage.

Gordon Hayward is playing at a completely different level. He is so strong. He is getting where he needs to go on the floor. He is so strong that he is abusing any defender that he gets an edge on. He is putting in shots that are seemingly impossible. He has been the best player on the floor every game he has played this year.

The Jazz’s defensive rebounding was incredible. The Jazz got 91% of all available defensive rebounds. Gobert had 10 and Hayward had 8.

The Jazz didn’t have their usual ball movement against Miami; Instead, they only had 12 assists on their 40 field goals.

Rodney Hood was the master of the mid-range. He was 8 of 13 shooting on the night, and hit his four free throws. This was another 15+ point night for Rodney, whose consistency so far this year has been terrific.

Rudy Gobert had a huge impact on the game. The Heat got a bunch of restricted area baskets in the second quarter, and when the Jazz eliminated that in the second half, they couldn’t score. I want Rudy Gobert on my team before Hassan Whiteside 10 times to Sunday.

Dante Exum played more aggressively and in an interesting paradox, the more aggressive he is, the less efficient his numbers will be. But that is what he needs to do. His rookie year, he played inside such a small box because he never wanted to make a mistake. Now, he is willing to venture a little, and when he does that, he is going to miss a lot of shots and commit a lot of turnovers.

I am so tired. These guys must be completely wasted. How they dug down and had enough energy with all these injuries to dominate this game is really awesome.

The Jazz accomplished a 7-4 to start the year. I am not sure I had the Jazz with this record if they were healthy, and they have played one game with Hill, Hood, Hayward, Favors and Gobert as the starting five all season. The Jazz’s losses are to Portland without Hayward and Favors, the 9-1 Clippers, the Spurs and the Hornets who are 7-2. The Jazz will struggle Monday on the first game back from long road trip, but they are going to be favored in about 12 of 16 games. That would be a 21-8 start. I think that is probably unlikely, but it is in play.

Derrick Favors played 6 minutes.