The Utah Jazz were supposed to be a good team, but they’ve won just one of 11 games, and coach Will Hardy’s seat could be on fire. At this point, conquering them is not a quality win, which is a concern because the Miami Heat looked flawed against them, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was questionable with a wrist injury before the game, was used too much in the fourth quarter. 

The Heat started the fourth on Tuesday ahead 20 points, and it was sliced to five late in crunch time while the team was cold from long range. Keep in mind that Utah was missing Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the front line plus Keyonte George was out. Coach Erik Spoelstra said he wants as many of these games as possible. It’s unclear why he wants to raise the fans’ blood pressure. 

Forget that it’s early in the season, or the faulty logic behind “you can only play who is in front of you.” The Heat — winners of five of their last seven — shouldn’t get much credit for getting back on track until they put together a string of wins against respectable competition. So far, the combined record of the Heat’s five wins is 14-41. 

The next five opponents are the Cleveland Cavaliers , Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks plus the Oklahoma City Thunder and at least three of those rivals could make it a bloodbath, especially if Bam Adebayo has a repeat of going 1-for-11. Detroit, Houston and Oklahoma City have been three of the NBA's elite so far, even with the Thunder missing three projected starters.

Let’s see: the Cavaliers also post a 5-6 record like the Heat, yet it’s hard to imagine that night being easy with all the criticism they are taking themselves and how desperation is mounting to turn the corner; the Pistons and Rockets are two levels above so far; the Bucks stink but it could be a trap game, thinking about the four former Heatles who will want to show them up; and the Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is arguably the best player in the world.

Baby steps are not good enough when the objectives are winning a championship and re-signing the star player. The Heat’s defense has been unrecognizably weak in totality and needs to be decent by Friday. Antetokounmpo has been part of that problem, and hopefully for their sake, someone with locker-room credibility steps up, telling him he has to stop taking plays off. 

Homestand will reveal plenty

Only 13.4% of their season is logged, but they need to have a high level of urgency so they don’t fall out of reach of being a top-four team. Having home-court advantage is a necessary step for them to be contenders and now is when habits are built that will pay off later or hurt them. The team needs to go at least 4-1 over the next five, if they are serious about getting on track.

The good news is that the new starting rotation, which had Pelle Larsson take Andrew Wiggins' place, records an excellent defensive rating (85.7). They have to find a way to get the same intensity from other lineups because the starters are used just 9.6 minutes. And they will have plenty of stars to try to stifle, starting with Donovan Mitchell and Cade Cunningham this weekend, and Kevin Durant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander among those on the way.

What kind of team is Miami, really? Against better competition?

The fans are about to get an up-close look, to determine if the Heat are still far away.