The Utah Jazz, despite their overall record, showcased their potential with a resounding victory over the Miami Heat. Andy Larsen analyzes the game, highlighting the team's strong performance, particularly their preferred starting lineup, and their potential to be a playoff contender in the Eastern Conference.
Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz ’s 136-100 win over the Miami Heat from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.The Jazz are bad, that’s clear from their record. The healthy Jazz? Not so bad. That was on display as the Jazz absolutely throttled the Heat on Saturday night. Yes, the Heat are in disarray in the wake of Jimmy Butler’s trade demand and resulting suspension. But they also had a 17-15 record coming in, including a 5-5 record without Butler. They weren’t usually pushovers.
Still, the Jazz kicked them while they were down in Miami. From the second quarter of this game forward, the Jazz absolutely played the Heat off the court, passing around them on offense for easy threes and layups on offense, and making them look foolish on defense. It also added to some building evidence that the Jazz are improving, and actually a pretty decent team if they have their pieces. Their starting lineup tonight — and, I think it’s fair to say, their preferred starting lineup at this point — has also been pretty good on the season. Keyonte George, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, and Walker Kessler lined up together are outscoring opponents by 2.9 points per 100 possessions. Take a look at those players. I think it’s fair to say Keyonte George is still finding his place in the league. But the others are pretty solid, established, you-know-what-you’re-gonna-get NBA players. All are in that 15 to 20 PER range, all of them are getting $15 million or more per year if they were on the open free agent market. Markkanen’s the best of them, but Collins and Sexton are playing really well, and Walker Kessler has made himself into one of the NBA’s best interior-specialist centers in the NBA. Someone asked on Twitter if this team could be a play-in team if they wanted to be. The answer is yes, perhaps — in the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, no shot, with the more-talented Kings and Suns currently in the 11 and 12 seed
NBA Utah Jazz Miami Heat Collin Sexton Lauri Markkanen Walker Kessler Play-In Tournament
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