The Utah Jazz are hoping to accomplish something Monday night that they’ve only managed to do twice this season.
Fresh off of a 113-99 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, the Jazz will attempt to string together two consecutive wins for the third time when they host the Indiana Pacers in Salt Lake City.
It won’t be an easy task, though — and not just because Utah has struggled at home even more than the road this year.
The Pacers come into this contest as one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Not only have they won three in a row, but they’ve also had the most success in the league since the calendar turned. Indiana is 11-2 in games played in 2025.
That resurgence has boosted Indiana seven games above .500 and into the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.
Indiana’s offense is clicking, too. The Pacers have scored at least 130 points in each game of their current three-game spurt.
“Our goal is to lead the league in the number of passes thrown,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ve been up at the top this year. … We’ve got to be a ball-movement, hot-ball, speed, random (team). Keep playing the game and keep putting pressure. Keep putting teams in difficult situations.”
Indiana has averaged nearly 31 assists an outing in January and February, while point guard Tyrese Haliburton spearheads the playmaking with an average of 8.7 assists.
“You have to take care of the ball,” Haliburton said. “We’ve been stressing possession, and coach has been stressing possession with us. We’ve just been trying to pay attention to it.”
Monday’s game in Utah kicks off a four-game road trip for the Pacers, who have six games remaining before the All-Star break.
Indiana comes into this contest after a nice 132-127 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Pascal Siakam totaled 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Andrew Nembhard scored 19, Obi Toppin contributed 18 points and nine boards and Haliburton dished out nine assists with 17 points.
The Jazz also had a strong outing in their last game.
Collin Sexton scored 22 with eight assists and John Collins netted 19 as Utah snapped an eight-game losing streak and earned its fourth win at home this year.
Now the Jazz could win in back-to-back games for the first time since doing so on Jan. 4-5 in Miami and Orlando.
“It’s a great team win,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I thought the group was really physical (Saturday). I thought we matched the physicality, or we met the level of physicality that’s needed when you play a team like the Magic.”
That helped Utah limit Orlando to 33 percent shooting. The Magic only connected on 22 percent of their 3-pointers.
“We understood that they’re not the greatest 3-point shooting team, and they love to get downhill, be physical,” Collins said. “They have a lot of great guys that get downhill. So I feel like the emphasis was on myself, (Lauri Markkanen), Walker (Kessler), the big fellas down there to protect the paint and set a tone.”
–Field Level Media
