The Utah Jazz aren’t exactly being subtle about their current approach - and if you’ve been watching closely, you’ve seen the pattern. They’re leaning into a strategy that’s become a familiar one for teams eyeing the NBA Draft lottery: play your stars just enough to keep things respectable, then pull the plug before the fourth quarter rolls around.
That’s exactly what happened again Monday night against the Miami Heat. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen were both solid through three quarters - Jackson dropped 22 points, Markkanen added 17 - but neither saw the floor in the fourth.
That wasn’t a fluke or a rest night. It’s part of the plan.
Here’s the twist, though: the plan didn’t quite go as expected. The Jazz still won, 115-111.
That’s the risk with this kind of strategy. You can try to tilt the odds toward a loss, but once the game tips off, you still need five guys on the floor - and sometimes, those guys just aren’t interested in losing.
Enter Kyle Filipowski. The rookie big man stepped up with a double-double off the bench - 16 points and 11 rebounds - and played with the kind of energy that doesn’t exactly scream “we’re trying to lose.”
Ace Bailey, another young piece still finding his footing this season, had one of his better nights too, finishing with 16 points and eight boards in a team-high 37 minutes. That kind of production from the bench is usually what you hope for when your stars are out - unless you're trying to slide down the standings.
To be fair, Miami had every reason to take this one. The Heat are in the thick of the playoff chase, and this should’ve been a game they could steal late.
But the Jazz reserves didn’t fold. They held the line, even as the game tightened down the stretch.
Afterward, Jazz head coach Will Hardy was asked the obvious question: with the game slipping into crunch time, did he consider re-inserting Jackson or Markkanen?
His response was short and to the point: “I wasn’t.”
That’s about as transparent as it gets. The Jazz aren’t trying to disguise what they’re doing.
They’re giving their young guys extended run, keeping their top talent out of late-game situations, and letting the chips fall where they may. Sometimes that means a loss.
Sometimes - like Monday - it means the bench guys pull off a win anyway.
It’s a delicate dance between development and draft position. And if nothing else, it’s clear the Jazz are committed to the long view, even if it means a few surprise wins sneak in along the way.