A lot of the talk surrounding the Utah Jazz this season has been about their rebuilding process, tanking and acquiring one of the top picks of the 2025 NBA Draft.
Incidentally, the rookie on their team who’s excelling the most right now is the one who didn’t get selected in the first round. In Wednesday’s 133-126 overtime win over Portland, first-year Duke product Kyle Filipowski amassed career-highs in points (30) and rebounds (18) to go with five assists and three steals.
Filipowski will have two more outings to gain more experience as a rookie, including Friday’s home finale for the Jazz (17-63) against the Oklahoma City Thunder (66-14) in Salt Lake City.
“From a stat standpoint, it’s his best game as a pro,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said after Wednesday’s big performance. “I think Flip did a really good job tonight of using the threat of the three ball to do a lot of the other things he’s really good at.”
Filipowski, who slipped to Utah early in the second round of last year’s draft, hit a pair of 3-pointers and shot 13-for-17 from the field en route to his career night against the Trail Blazers. He had the game-tying dunk with 2.8 seconds left in regulation and then played a key role in overtime to help the Jazz snap a nine-game skid.
“That’s the Flip that I grew up with,” Utah guard Keyonte George said. “Being on (Team) USA to seeing him on the (AAU) circuit, I don’t even know how to explain it, that’s his game. That’s who he is. He could be that type of guy every single night.”
Though they pulled off a rare win Wednesday, the Jazz have still lost 19 of their last 21 games. They’re currently tied with the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the NBA.
The Thunder, meanwhile, also have two games remaining on their schedule. They need one win or a Cleveland loss to secure the best record in the league. OKC already has wrapped up the No. 1 seed throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
Oklahoma City is coming off a 125-112 road victory over Phoenix on Wednesday, a result that eliminated the Suns from postseason contention.
With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (shin) sidelined, Jalen Williams led the way for the Thunder with 33 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Chet Holmgren added 22 points and 10 boards, while Alex Caruso had 19 points, five rebounds and five steals.
Williams joked that Caruso’s steals line on the stat sheet must have been a typo but then complimented his teammate for setting the defensive pace.
“I thought AC was really good for us,” Williams said. “I think AC started us off playing defense, getting back to our identity. We started the third quarter with 13 of 15 stops. Being able to do that and hone into what makes us good, I think we did a really good job of that and we were special one through five.”
Though there’s nothing on the line with Friday’s game aside from a potential season-series sweep for OKC, which won the first three contests, Williams said these games can still be important as the Thunder approach the postseason.
“I’m trying to use a lot of these games as reps,” he said, “and treat them as close to the playoffs as I can regardless of who we’re playing.”
–Field Level Media
