The Utah Jazz earned their 17th win of the season on Monday night, matching their win total from the 2024-25 season.
Against the Miami Heat, the final opponent of a five-game road trip that covered most of the eastern part of the country and included the NBA trade deadline, the Jazz were able to experiment in a couple of different ways.
First, it was the second look the Jazz had at their new roster, with Jaren Jackson Jr. flanked by Jusuf Nurkić and Lauri Markkanen in an ultra-sized front court. For the second straight game Jackson scored 22 points for the Jazz and showed that he and Markkanen, along with a center, are going to cause some serious problems for any opposing team.
“We need to let Jaren and Lauri develop a lot of that familiarity,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “While they’re doing that, we and I need to pay attention because we can learn a lot from them. They’ll show us things that maybe we haven’t thought of as much in terms of ways that their skill sets can play off of each other. We also are going to learn more as we continue to go about how those two guys are guarded when they’re in the same space.”
Additionally, the Jazz continued what will be a large focal point for the remainder of the 2025-26 season — trying to figure out the rotation outside of the starting five.
Though additional trades or roster moves could change things, the Jazz do seem to have a core of five for the future — Jackson, Markkanen, a center (be it Nurkić or Walker Kessler when he returns healthy), Ace Bailey and Keyonte George (who was sidelined Monday because of an ankle sprain suffered on Saturday).
So, there’s a mix of players that need to be tested and pushed as the Jazz think about who could help them once the games matter and wins are the priority. Through much of the second half on Monday, and especially in the fourth quarter, Hardy let the bench players fight it out with the Heat.
This time, it was Kyle Filipowski (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Brice Sensabaugh (14 points) who really stepped up to help the Jazz close out the Heat with a 115-111 victory. But there were contributions across board.
Players like Filipowski, Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, Vince Williams Jr., John Konchar and Cody Williams will have a lot of pressure on them through the rest of this season and beyond.
Because the Jazz aren’t just looking for players who fill a spot. They’ll be thinking about who can help in playoff situations, who can raise their defensive level, who can give more effort, more physicality and a higher level of execution against the elite teams in the NBA.
And something that Hardy said when referencing Jackson and Markkanen is applicable to the rest of the roster.
“We’ve got to really be paying attention because right now all the things that I think are just that. They’re just things I think," he said. “We haven’t seen them yet. So we need to be trying to learn as much as we can in this moment.”
So the pressure is on. The Jazz don’t need wins, but they need every player to compete for their spot and prove that when the lights are really on, they deserve a place in the rotation.