Jazz thinking about the future in loss to Nuggets

Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy is happy his team can play a game above its current level, as it did in Monday night’s 128-125 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

“Coach Will said that in the locker room,” Kyle Filipowski said. “If we continue to play hard like this and continue to play together, then we can get where we want to be in the future.”

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When Filipovski shows his strength and versatility, we see what’s possible. When Keyonte George continues to prove that he is one of the NBA’s rising guards; when Ace Bailey shows that he is not afraid of the moment when the game is about to happen.

These are things that Jazz can point to and get excited about.

And, let’s be honest, Monday’s outcome was the perfect outcome for everyone involved, even if the two teams have such different goals and approaches for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.

The Nuggets are working to reintegrate all of their players into the fold and be ready for the playoffs at the end of the season while still maintaining a record that will put them above a championship berth. The Jazz try to maintain some level of competition even though everyone in and around the team knows the results don’t matter.

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One thing going against both teams is time.

With 21 games left in the season, the Jazz are moving forward in time, and they might like to pick up the pace, cancel a few of those games, jump right into the offseason, the lottery, the draft, and then look ahead to the 2026-27 season — the season in which they will actually try to win games.

The Nuggets have 20 games left and there’s concern they’re running out of time. With injuries to key rotation players and star players on the roster, most recently Nikola Jokic, they need time to prepare for the future. But there aren’t many of them.

“This group is really special this year and they’re everything I asked of them,” head coach David Adelman said. “But my concern is the timing… when you get into the playoffs, you want to go upand you want to feel like you know yourself. So we do need time, we need those guys back… You need time to go through the process and see what’s really the right fit. “

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But it’s a good question, because there’s nothing the Jazz like more than to be in a position to prepare for the playoffs.

In fact, George, who scored 36 points, said that even now, when the result is not important, he is trying to think about this.

“We can play a little bit of mind games,” George said. “Try to trick yourself into believing that these last few games we’re trying to find our rhythm and maybe make the playoffs.”

If you’re a jazz fan, this is what you want to hear from George.

Instead of spending the final game not caring, not worrying about the future because it’s so far away, the best player the Jazz have (not on the injury report) is pretending that these games actually matter.

When they do, he’ll be ready and hopefully the rest of the team will be, too.