MIAMI – The low point of this Miami Heat season?

Welcome to it, when Erik Spoelstra’s team on Monday night lost to a team that was trying to lose.

Given every opportunity to string together only their second winning streak since early January, the Heat disastrously declined the gift, falling 115-111 to the Utah Jazz at Kaseya Center.

Facing with the prospect of losing their first-round pick in June’s draft if it is not among the first eight, the Jazz pulled leading big men Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the night midway through the third quarter, with Jackson with 22 points at that stage and Markkanen with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Utah then played the entirety of the fourth quarter without four of their five starters.

And, still, the Heat could not take what was being given, albeit while paying in the injury absences of Norman Powell, Pelle Larsson and Tyler Herro.

The difference is those absences weren’t by choice, with Powell out with back pain, Larsson forearm discomfort and Herro a rib issue.

So, instead, empty numbers for the Heat, with Andrew Wiggins closing with 26 points, Kasparas Jakucionis with 20 and Bam Adebayo closing with 23 points and one rebound.

Five degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

— Game flow: The Heat led 32-26 at the end of the opening period, after taking an early 15-point lead. Utah then moved to a 61-52 halftime lead.

The Heat then tied it late in the third period, before Utah went into the fourth up 85-82.

From there, with the Jazz sitting their best, the Heat moved up five in the fourth quarter.

No matter, not when Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh converted a 3-pointer for a 113-111 Utah lead with 41.1 to play.

Misses on both ends followed, leaving the Heat in possession down two and out of timeouts with 8.6 seconds to play.

A wayward Jakucionis 3-point attempt later and it basically was over.

— Here’s why: So why did the Jazz sit their best for a second consecutive game when carrying a lead into a fourth quarter?

Because if Utah does not wind up with one of the first eight picks in June’s NBA draft, the pick goes to the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The protected pick dates to a 2021 Jazz trade that unloaded the contract of Derrick Favors.

This is the third year the debt has rolled over. The pick was Top 10 protected in 2024 and ’25, now down to top-eight protection.

If the pick does not go to the Thunder this season, the transaction instead will be completed solely though a cash transaction.

The Jazz also sat their top players in the fourth quarter on Saturday night in Orlando, in a loss to the Magic.

The Jazz entered Monday with the NBA’s sixth-worst record.

— More big: With Larsson and Powell out, and with the Jazz opening big, Spoelstra returned to the Adebayo-Kel’el Ware opening pairing, the first time Ware had started since the Jan. 8 loss in Minnesota.

Whether it was matchup based or the reward of a solid pairing Sunday in Washington remains to be seen.

But it certainly seemed to make sense in this one, with the Jazz opening with a front line of 7-foot Jusuf Nurkic, 7-0 Markkanen and 6-11 Jackson.

The pairing then was limited in the second half, with Ware called for his fourth foul 1:35 into the third quarter, with Ware fouling out with 10:55 to play.

Ware closed with eight points and six rebounds in his 14 minutes.

— Still going: A game after shooting 6 of 6 on 3-pointers, Jakucionis this time made his first three 3-pointers and opened 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.

With Powell out, Spoelstra played all three of his point guards early, including playing Jakucionis and Dru Smith in trandem.

Smith did not play until mop-up duty on Sunday in Washington.

Jakucionis later returned in the second period to play alongside starting point guard Davion Mitchell.

— Attack mode: After falling to 2 of 10 for the night in the third quarter, Adebayo seemingly said enough was enough, moving on to score 11 points in the period.

That effort was eased with Jackson and then Markkanen off the court for the Jazz during the bulk of that surge.

Ultimately, it still wasn’t enough.

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