Jazz's Achilles Heel Continues to Be Clutch-Time Collapse

Once again, when the chips were down, the Utah Jazz crumbled. On a raucous New Year's Eve with the home crowd at their back, the Jazz lost a squeaker to the Miami Heat, 126-123.

Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz in scoring once again with 29 points, chipping in 14 rebounds. Jordan Clarkson finished with 17 points, but struggled in the clutch.

Clarkson missed two free throws with 27 seconds to go in the fourth quarter and trailing by five points, though he slightly redeemed himself by hitting three straight on the next possession, narrowing Miami's lead to two points. If he'd sunk that earlier pair of free throws, that next trio would have tied the game.

Woulda, shoulda, coulda.

Thanks to Markkanen also sinking a trio of free throws in the closing seconds, the Jazz did manage to tie this game with 6.3 seconds left to go. But Utah's defense broke down as Tyler Herro knifed through the Jazz to sink a three-point prayer as time expired, giving the Heat the walk-off victory.

Utah relinquished 32 points to Bam Adebayo and 29 to Herro. In the final analysis, it's simply not good enough.

It's the story of Utah's mid-season slump. After winning 10 of their first 13 games, the Jazz have now dropped 17 of their last 26 and sit with a sub-.500 record and the 10th seed in the Western Conference.

This team still struggles on defense, but the dagger is Utah's lack of poise in the clutch. Unless Coach Will Hardy is able to rectify his team's end-of-game discipline, a once-promising campaign could devolve into the Jazz watching the playoffs from home.

Even though it's felt like Utah has been playing on borrowed time, we've seen that this team has the horses to compete with any opponent on a given night. But it's the little things that separate the teams with potential from the ones with production in the standings.

The Jazz have to figure out how to provide their best execution when the chips are down as the intensity of these games continues to mount as the NBA season marches on.

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