CNN  — 

Donovan Mitchell scored a game high 37 as the Western Conference leading Utah Jazz broke a two-game losing streak, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 122-103 on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

The victory was a 23rd consecutive home win for the Jazz but came after recent losses on the road to the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Jazz remain on top of the Western Conference and can be thankful to their All-Star guard “Spida” Mitchell.

Mitchell came out on fire and with the aid of Rudy Gobert – who dropped in 18 points – stepped up to the plate for the much-needed victory.

“It was a must-win,” Mitchell told reporters after the game. “First off, we don’t lose two in a row and then you definitely don’t lose three. That’s the mindset. So this was a must-win.”

Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said, “Our defense was the biggest thing and our defensive rebounding in the third quarter broke the game open.”

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Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell scored a game high 37 to beat the Portland Trail Blazers.

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Around the league

Elsewhere, in a rematch of the 2020 NBA Finals, the Miami Heat downed the Los Angeles Lakers, who without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker, 110-104.

Jimmy Butler led the way for the Heat – who were ahead for much of the game – with 28 points, but with Lakers forward Markieff Morris ejected in the fourth quarter for arguing with a referee, the traveling West coast side lacked the firepower to beat the hosts.

After the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “You don’t know what’s going to present itself in an NBA basketball game, there’s competition and it can go a lot of different ways, we need these experiences together and I thought we did some things very well.”

Meanwhile, in a Western Conference match-up that pitted second versus third, the Lakers’ LA counterparts the Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns 113-103, behind 33 points from Paul George and another 27 by Kawhi Leonard.

The victory extends the Clippers’ winning streak to three games, but they remain in third place, two games behind the Suns.