MIAMI The Utah Jazz head into Mondays night matchup against the Miami Heat as winners of their last five ball games, but it will also be the first game Utah has played against a team with a winning record since they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 4 in Salt Lake City. Since then, the Jazz have won six of their last seven games, albeit against rather pedestrian teams with little playoff aspirations.

While Utah has been able to get back on the winning track, the level of competition hasnt been as good as what the Jazz will face at American Airlines Arena. The Heat are currently No. 3 in the East at 21-7 sharing an identical record with the Toronto Raptors and have just one loss on their home court. Despite the formidable task that lies before them, Jazz forward Joe Ingles said this will be a good test of how competitive the team can really be against one of the leagues better squads.

I dont really care what anyone elses record is at all, the schedule is the schedule, and we just have to play whos in front of us, he said following shootaround Monday morning. Winning record or not or win streak or not, its another opportunity for us to get better and work on the things that weve been working on all year and the things weve been getting better at all year.

Theyve been playing well; theyre playing reasonably well at home too, so theyll be a bigger challenge for us, he added.

Ingles said the Jazz will have to get into an offensive rhythm early to avoid getting behind and having to make a comeback, which has been a pattern of late.

Just going into the game knowing what were doing, looking after the ball, not having breakdowns early in the clock or in the game that gets them feeling good and gets some momentum for them, he explained. Weve all got to come out ready to play. On the (defensive) end, weve got to execute so were not running (back) in transition and on the (wrong) foot from the start.

He noted that ball movement on offense will be among the keys to getting good scoring opportunities as well as recognizing when to take shots as they present themselves.

Were one of the better catch and shoot (teams), so wed be stupid to not try and utilize that. Weve got unselfish guys, were able to break the paint with what we run and the players weve got, he said. Weve just got to shoot the ball with confidence (and) we do a pretty good job of that.

So far this season, Utah (18-11) has just four of its victories versus teams with winning records. A win against a tough Heat squad would be a strong signal to the team and the league about just how far the Jazz have progressed since the struggles that occurred around the Thanksgiving holiday road swing.

Read the original here:

Jazz ready for a progress report against the Heat - Deseret News