SUMMARY:  Dwyane Wade has “retro burst” leading Miami to a late game win over the Jazz

• The last three plays will get the most discussion tonight.  Donovan Mitchell drove to the basket guarded by a great defender in Josh Richardson and missed a driving layup where the Jazz felt he got fouled.   Dwayne Wade drove the basket went into Rudy Gobert and a late whistle gave Wade the call on the Gobert.  Wade made both free throws.  Quin Snyder drew up a masterful play and got Donovan Mitchell a wide open three and he missed it and the Jazz lost 102-100

• The Jazz started the game terrifically and took a 19 point lead when Raul Neto hit a layup to put the Jazz up 35 to 16. Then the Jazz would proceed to miss 15 straight shots.  The final two of the first quarter and then the first 13 of the 2^nd quarter allowing Miami to go on a 21-0 run and take a 2 point lead.

• From that point on it was quite a game. The first lead change came at the 7:26 mark of the 2^nd quarter and we would have another 16 over the next 31 minutes of basketball along with 16 ties.  The 2^nd and 3^rd quarter each had only one possession where either team lead by more than 3 points.

• The final 7:56 neither team lead by more than 3. This was a super game.

• The talk will be Wade got the call because he is a superstar and Donovan didn’t because he isn’t. That is inaccurate.  Wade got the call because he jumps vertically and challenges the shot blocker and there is a lot of contact.  Wade came into the league as a foul drawer and understands how to drive with a balance that allows him to jump up and strong to play off contact.  Donovan does not do this.  Wade very well may have learned this in his final two years at Marquette when he was the go to guy and the national college player of the year that carried his team to the Final Four.   Donovan doesn’t come to the NBA with that same experience.  Halfway thru his sophomore year he was benched.  If he was the go to guy late in games in college it was only for the last month.

• Donovan’s drive is done with speed and long strides to get by his defender. He beats Josh Richardson on this drive.  He just misses.  I don’t believe he was fouled when I watch the replay.   He is going super fast, he has made a great move to get by an elite defender.  Then he goes right foot right handed layup sneaking around the defender.  He has a really tough angle to the basket.   Wade planted his left foot and went in high and hard right into Rudy Gobert.    If you really push me I think both calls might have been right.

• Donovan is playing is his 100^th nba game. This league is hard.  He is going to learn and do these things differently as he develops.  This is part of the learning process.  He is not a ready made superstar, they don’t exist.  LeBron wasn’t one, Durant wasn’t one, Steph wasn’t one.  Donovan is awesome, but he still is taking in new experiences. The best part of the Donovan is his relentless desire to be great.   As fans we need to let him go through the natural process of doing that.

• I thought the Jazz looked spent at about the 7 minute mark and am impressed they stayed with it to the end.   Their shooting struggled in the 4^th.

• Ricky Rubio had a great game tonight. 23 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists on 9 of 13 shooting and played with amazing confidence.  His last 11 games are really good.

• Looked to me as though the Jazz offense lost its rhythm in the 2^nd quarter when they started to try to play with their new toy. They seemed so set on getting Korver looks that they stopped playing the way they had been earlier in the game.

• The consistently inconsistent Hassan Whiteside was great tonight. Whiteside who had not been good in 4 games had 23 points and 20 rebounds for Miami.  In the 4 previous games Bam Adebayo had played more than the Whiteside.

• The one that should really upset the Jazz were the plays where they didn’t foul Whiteside hard enough he was able to finish the shot instead of free throws. He is a disaster at the free throw line and those points were the difference in the game.

• The 12 game “road” trip is over. The Jazz were 5-7.  They need to start winning at home and get their defensive prowess back.   Coming into the night 8 of the last 11 games the offensive rating was below 100.  It is really hard to win if you are below 100.  Tonight the Jazz came in around 102.  The offense may be more important than the defense getting going.