Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat rebounds over Jusuf Nurkic #30 of the Utah Jazz during the first half of the game at Delta Center on January 24, 2026 in Salt Lake City. Alex Goodlett Getty Images
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 147-116 win over the Utah Jazz (15-31) on Saturday night at Delta Center to improve to 2-2 on its five-game West Coast trip. The Heat (24-22) closes the trip and the back-to-back on Sunday against the Suns in Phoenix (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun): The Heat took care of business against the rebuilding Jazz, cruising to a 31-point win behind another high-scoring display and a dominant performance on the offensive glass.
After ending the first quarter with a one-point lead, the Heat broke open the game with a dominant second quarter. Miami outscored Utah 38-18 in the second quarter to take a 73-52 advantage into halftime.
The Heat built that 21-point halftime lead behind an eye-opening 19-4 edge in second-chance points. Miami did it with a huge 19-2 advantage in offensive rebounds through the first two quarters.
The Heat didn’t look back, playing with a double-digit lead for the entire second half on the way to the blowout victory over the struggling Jazz. Saturday marked the Jazz’s 12th loss in the last 15 games.
The Heat led by as many as 34 points in the second half and finished with a 26-7 edge in offensive rebounds. Miami outscored Utah 23-9 in second-chance points.
Those offensive rebounds helped fuel a Heat offense that was already going against a bad Jazz defense that entered the game with the NBA’s worst defensive rating this season.
The Heat, which entered as the fourth-highest scoring team in the NBA at 119.3 points per game, tied a season-high with 147 points on 43.5 percent shooting from the field and 19-of-47 (40.4 percent) shooting from three-point range on Saturday. It also tied the third-highest scoring performance for the Heat in franchise history
The Heat has now reached the 140-point mark in a league-leading eight games this season. No other team in the NBA has reached the 140-point mark in more than three games this season.
Heat center and captain Bam Adebayo led the way with a team-high 26 points and 15 rebounds. He shot 8 of 19 from the field, 4 of 10 on threes and 6 of 6 from the foul line.
Amid his season-long struggles, Heat forward Nikola Jovic turned in one of the best performances of his fourth NBA season. Jovic finished Saturday’s win with 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 shooting on threes and 8-of-11 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 22 minutes off the bench.
Heat second-year guard Pelle Larsson contributed 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 shooting on threes, two rebounds, three assists and one block in 25 minutes.
In total, seven Heat players finished with double-digit points on Saturday.
The Jazz struggled to make threes, finishing 7 of 25 (28 percent) from behind the arc. Brice Sensabaugh scored a team-high 23 points for the Jazz.
Rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis again got the start in place of the injured Davion Mitchell, and provided quality minutes before leaving the game in the final minutes after taking an elbow to the head.
Jakucionis made his second straight start for Mitchell and the fourth start of his young NBA career on Saturday. Jakucionis again started alongside Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo.
Jakucionus, 19, produced impressive minutes to total in 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes, five rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes.
But Jakucionis left the game with 2:32 remaining in the fourth quarter after taking an elbow to the head from Jazz guard Keyonte George. Jakucionis was slow to get to his feet and seemed a bit woozy, as he eventually was helped to the locker room by teammates.
After playing only 53.7 seconds in the NBA through the Heat’s first 26 games of the season, Jakucionis has now played in 19 of the Heat’s last 20 games in large part because of the team’s injury issues.
Mitchell, who has started in each of his 40 appearances this season, missed his second straight game and his fourth game in the last six games on Saturday because of a sprained left shoulder.
Mitchell initially suffered the shoulder injury while trying to run through a screen during the Heat’s Jan. 13 win over the Suns. After hurting his shoulder on Jan. 13, Mitchell missed the next two games before returning to play in two games and then re-aggravating the injury during Tuesday’s win over the Sacramento Kings.
“I think I just got to kind of take my time and kind of let this heal,” Mitchell said Saturday morning. “Because I don’t want it to kind be like this the whole season where I’m feeling good and I think I’m fine, and it happens again and I’m going back to square one. So, I just got to take my time.
“When I’m feeling ready, when I’m ready to play contact. What happened was I didn’t play contact before when I got back. And then when I first got contact, it was in the game. So, it’s tough. But I’m going to get through it.”
Along with missing Mitchell, the Heat was also without starting guard Tyler Herro Right (costochondral injury to ribs) and backup center Kel’el Ware (right hamstring strain) against the Jazz.
The Heat was also missing Vlad Goldin (G League), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Jahmir Young (G League) on Saturday.
The Jazz was also short-handed, playing without its leading scorer Lauri Markkanen (return to competition reconditioning).
In addition, Utah was without Elijah Harkless (G League), Walker Kessler (left shoulder injury recovery), Kevin Love (left knee contusion), Georges Niang (left foot stress reaction), John Tonje (G League) and Oscar Tshiebwe (G League) against the Heat.
The Heat’s recent uptick in offensive rebounds continued, as an emphasis has been put on crashing the offensive glass.
The Heat still entered Saturday with the NBA’s 21st-ranked offensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs) at 29.1 percent this season.
But lately, the Heat has been more aggressive in trying to dominate the offensive glass.
In the five games leading into Saturday’s contest in Salt Lake City, the Heat has posted the league’s eighth-ranked offensive rebounding percentage (33.3 percent). The Heat has scored more than 15 second-chance points in four of those games.
The Heat continued to that push for offensive rebound, outrebounding the Jazz 26-7 on the offensive glass. The 26 offensive rebounds are a season-high for the Heat and tie for the sixth most the Heat has grabbed in a game in franchise history.
In addition, the Heat’s 19 offensive rebounds in Saturday’s first half matched the franchise record for any half. It also marked the most offensive rebounds by an NBA team in any half this season.
Adebayo grabbed a team-high seven offensive rebounds against the Jazz.
Miami has now outscored its opponent in second-chance points in five straight games.
It appears that Powell’s back issue is limiting him on the court, but he still found a way to make an impact.
Powell has been on the injury report with lower back tightness in each of the last two games, and he has played through the pain in both contests.
But Powell hasn’t looked 100 percent in either game, scoring 18 points but shooting 0 of 7 from three-point range and grabbing zero rebounds in Thursday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He again struggled to make threes on Saturday.
Powell finished the Heat’s win over the Jazz with 13 points on just 3-of-11 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. But he was able to get to the foul line to finish 7 of 10 from the charity stripe, while also recoridng four rebounds and six assists in 25 minutes.
But Powell is now 0 of 11 from three-point range over the last two games.
Considering that Powell entered Saturday shooting 40.6 percent on 7.3 three-point attempts per game this season, this two-game stretch is an outlier as he deals with back tighteness.
With another game on Sunday to complete the back-to-back, it remains to be seen if Powell will be able to play through his back issue for a second consutive night in Phoenix.
Powell, 32, has missed six games this season — three because of a right groin strain, one because of a left groin strain, one because of a left ankle sprain and one because of low back soreness.
After playing a Jazz team missing its best player in Markkanen, the Heat will close its trip against another team missing its top player.
The Suns have already ruled out four-time All-Star guard Devin Booker for Sunday’s matchup against the Heat because of a sprained right ankle. It will mark the first game that Booker has missed since turning his ankle in Friday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Booker is averaging 25.4 points, four rebounds and 6.2 assists per game in 41 appearances for the Suns this season. The Suns are 1-3 in the four games that Booker has missed so far this season.
In addition, the Suns listed guard Jalen Green as questionable for Sunday’s contest because of right hamstring injury management.
But the Heat will also be short-handed, as Herro and Ware remain in Miami and will not be available against the Suns. Mitchell’s status also remains up in the air because of his shoulder injury.