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SALT LAKE CITY — Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle likely wasn't surprised by anything that happened Monday. Heck, he even somewhat predicted how the Jazz would play before the game.
"They are playing their tough guys," he said. "They're just playing at a higher level of force. I know they went through a period where (Lauri) Markkanen was out — that's tough — but he's back now and they've got the best record since Christmas.
"Those guys are very good," he continued. "They're playing 10 guys, so there's always energy in the game. The recent record is no fluke."
The game did nothing to change his opinion as the Jazz rolled to a 132-105 win over the Pacers at the Delta Center. The Jazz (22-20) have won six straight and nine of their last 10 games.
Tough? The Jazz had eight blocks and 60 points in the paint.
High level of force? Utah shot 35 free throws, including a 10-for-10 showing from Markkanen.
Energy? No Jazz player played more than 30 minutes.
Markkanen led the way with 32 points on 10-for-15 shooting and 10 rebounds; Collin Sexton added 30 points and five assists for the Jazz, who are now 15-4 in their last 19 games. That is the best record in the NBA over that span — a run that dates back to Dec. 13.
How far have the Jazz come since then? Jazz coach Will Hardy's reaction to a 27-point win was telling.
"My concern at the moment is that we're on a winning streak, and that is great, but this is the time when you start to have some slippage creep in that gets covered up by winning," Hardy said. "I feel like for the majority of the game, the ball is really moving and then we have moments where we seemingly get a little bored and the ball stops moving and we start playing a little bit too much isolation."
The Jazz have hit the point that they're nitpicking a game where they led by 20 or more for most of the second half. Oh, how times have changed.
Utah closed the first half on a 13-5 run to take a 14-point lead into the break and then came out and shut the door quickly in the second half. A 12-3 out of halftime pushed the lead to over 20 points, and that's right where it hovered the rest of the night.
But that also led to some complacent play — or at least some boredom.
"We can't get satisfied with winning," Sexton said. "We've got to just continue to come in every day, lace our boots up, and put the work in.
Markkanen said it was about establishing the right habits no matter the score.
There was a portion of the second half that looked a bit like a pickup game. The Jazz had a couple of turnovers in a row and then allowed the Pacers to walk into open shots. It wasn't detrimental — the Pacers never got closer than 17 in the fourth quarter — but it was alarming enough for Hardy to be worried, if only slightly, about the potential long-term impacts.
"Slippage is natural, and when things are going well, it's easy to make excuses for them and say, 'Oh, it's OK because we won,' but I think that this team is showing that it can continue to improve, and that's our objective is to keep getting better as a group every day and not let a winning streak have us just gloss over some things," Hardy said.
There is a confidence permeating from the team as they walk on the court. They are playing some of the best basketball in the NBA and, frankly, they know that. But they also don't want a six-game winning streak or a hot 19-game stretch to be the highlight of their season.
They don't believe their run is a fluke, either. But they want to make sure that it continues.
"This isn't our Super Bowl," Sexton said. "This isn't where we want to be at Game 82. We don't want to have 22 wins. We want to move forward, and I feel like we have to continue to push each other and continue to get the best out of each other."
