Millsap's 46 help Jazz stun Heat in OT 116-114

[November 10, 2010]  MIAMI (AP) -- Dwyane Wade had 39 points. LeBron James had a triple-double. The Miami Heat had a 22-point lead.

The Utah Jazz were unimpressed on all counts.

Paul Millsap scored a career-high 46 points -- 11 coming in the final 28 seconds of regulation as Utah rallied from eight down -- and the Jazz stunned the Heat 116-114 in overtime on Tuesday night.

"I guess when it rains, it pours," Millsap said.

Utah never led by more than three points, which didn't matter. The Jazz had more than enough at the end, and Francisco Elson's free throws with 0.4 seconds left won it.

"At some point in the year, unfortunately, we have to go through something like this," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

It's still early, but Utah can make an argument for being the NBA's comeback kings so far. The Jazz rallied from 18 points down to beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, and dug themselves an even bigger hole this time around, trailing by 22 in the second quarter and 51-32 at halftime while getting run out of Miami's building.

Deron Williams had 21 points and 14 assists before fouling out late in regulation, and Andrei Kirilenko scored 16 -- including a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining, after which the Jazz wouldn't trail again.

"It's speechless, to be down like that to a team like this and to come out with a win," Millsap said. "We clawed our way out of it. But this says a lot about our team."

Wade's 39 came on 12-of-23 shooting. James finished with 20 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds for his 29th triple-double, the seventh that came in a loss. Chris Bosh scored 17, James Jones added 11 and Carlos Arroyo had 10 for the Heat, who gave up a staggering 84 points after halftime.

"I think we panicked a little bit as a group," Wade said.

Miami still led 98-90 with a half-minute left before Millsap caught fire: He hit a trio of 3-pointers, then grabbed the rebound of CJ Miles' miss from the left corner and scored at the end of regulation to give Utah another 5 minutes.

"I'd never seen him hit a 3 before," Bosh said.

Very few people had.

Millsap, who finished 19 of 28 from the field, had been a 2-for-20 shooter from 3-point range in his career -- then went 3 for 3 against Miami, all with the outcome in the balance. Add a 3-pointer from Williams, and Utah scored 14 points in the last 28 seconds of regulation.

"The man was on fire," Wade said.

Does Millsap have the green light?

"He does now," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

Talk about being an unlikely hero. In eight previous games against Miami, Millsap had averaged 6.9 points. He became the eighth player to score at least 46 points against the Heat, a list that also includes Michael Jordan, James, Willie Burton, Jamal Crawford, Vince Carter, Alex English and Gilbert Arenas.

"He got easy buckets," Bosh said. "A lot of easy buckets."

The Heat missed five shots in the final two minutes of overtime that either would have tied the game or given them the lead, including Eddie House's desperation jumper at the buzzer. Spoelstra said the play was designed for James to get a lob at the rim, an option Utah took away.

"Jerry Sloan is one of the best coaches we have in our league," James said. "He kind of figured out what we wanted to do."

It was the second time in a week Miami lost at the end, and in both games, it wasn't Wade, James or Bosh taking the last shot -- but House, who misfired on 3-pointers both on Tuesday and at the end of a three-point loss last week in New Orleans.

"We came out flat in the third quarter," Bosh said. "We didn't have the sense of urgency that we needed. We had a chance to put them away and we didn't."

Given the way things began, Utah had to feel fortunate just to have a chance.

The Jazz missed 10 straight shots in the opening quarter, allowing the Heat to peel off a 15-0 run -- matching Miami's biggest of the young season -- and run out to a quick 22-7 lead. Miami led by as many as 22 in the second quarter, and still were comfortably up 67-51 when James made a layup with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.

Utah outscored Miami 65-47 the rest of the way. The Jazz took an 81-79 lead on a jumper by Williams midway through the fourth, before Wade scored five points in a quick 9-0 run that restored some Heat breathing room.

Temporarily, that is.

Millsap saved his best for last. And he wasn't surprised that he got hot from beyond the arc.

"I practice that every day," Millsap said. "We have our 3-point shooting contests. I win a few."

NOTES: Millsap's previous career-highs were 13 field goals and 32 points, both against Boston on Dec. 15, 2008. ... Emeka Okafor's 26 points in the loss to New Orleans had been the high against Miami this season. ... Miami hosts Boston on Thursday in a rematch of the season-opening loss to the Celtics. ... The Jazz had lost seven straight in Miami.

[Associated Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]

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