The Miami Heat fell 84-65 to the Utah Jazz on Friday at Cox Pavilion as part of Las Vegas Summer League. It marked the Heat’s first loss of summer league after winning its first four games, dating back to the California Classic in Sacramento.

Here are some observations from the Heat’s loss to the Jazz in Las Vegas:

▪ The Heat used a starting lineup of Omer Yurtseven, Max Strus, KZ Okpala, DeJon Jarreau and Marcus Garrett for the second consecutive summer league game.

This starting five makes sense, considering Yurtseven, Strus and Okpala are on standard deals for next season and are on track to be on the Heat’s roster. Also, Jarreau and Garrett appear to be Miami’s top two-way contract candidates.

▪ Strus followed up Wednesday’s 32-point performance with 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 shooting on threes, seven rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes on Friday.

▪ It’s evident that Yurtseven is a skilled offensive player. He can score at all three levels as a 23-year-old 7-footer, which is one of the big reasons the Heat recently signed him to a standard NBA contract.

But Yurtseven has also flashed potential on the defensive end, especially as a rim protector. After blocking four shots in Wednesday’s double-overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Yurtseven’s ability to track the ball was again on display with three blocks on Friday.

The next step for Yurtseven is continuing to improve as a pick-and-roll defender.

“He’s got good athleticism,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Malik Allen said. “It’s just now with us, the demand is to be able to stay down and move your feet. He doesn’t have to be Bam [Adebayo], obviously. But he’s got athleticism that’s just a little bit untapped into now. So it’s just trying to drive him to play in a stance a little bit more. At the same time, he’s also learning our coverages, our verbiage and trying to get ahead of plays that these experiences help.

“We actually went through some film yesterday about how we can be better pick-and-roll wise coming into today. Especially in the first half, he was protecting the rim, he was disruptive, he was big and he was doing both. He wasn’t just standing back at the rim, he was up and retreating. So he’s got the potential to do it, he just needs to keep working at it and keep building the foundation of just trying to play lower and his athleticism will start to show a little bit more.”

Yurtseven also recorded a team-high 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes, 11 rebounds and three steals against the Jazz.

In the four summer league games Yurtseven has played in with the Heat this year, he has averaged 22.8 points on 51.4 percent shooting from the field and 36.8 percent shooting on threes, 12.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

▪ Okpala’s offensive struggles continued in Las Vegas, as he finished Friday’s loss with five points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field, 0-of-2 shooting on threes and 3-of-6 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 25 minutes.

In three summer league games, Okpala has totaled 19 points on 6-of-27 (22.2 percent) shooting from the field and 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) shooting from three-point range, 21 rebounds and five assists.

“I think just offensively, he’s trying to do the right things,” Allen said. “Like the first game, I think he was trying to do a little too much. This game when he got his touches, he was trying to do the right thing. It’s a little bit different. His mind just seems like it’s moving very, very fast right now and the game is very fast because he’s trying to do everything that we’re asking him to do. That’s a credit to him. It’s not like we’re sitting here saying, ‘You’re shooting too much,’ or anything like that. I think he’s just pressing and trying to do the right thing too much instead of relaxing and letting the game come to him a little bit.”

Okpala, 22, is entering the final season of a three-year, $4.2 million contract he signed prior to his rookie season in 2019.

“He’s trying to do the right things right now, he is,” Allen emphasized. “The big thing is he’s defending and being active, and the offense will come. It will come.”

▪ Jarreau did not play in the Heat’s two summer league games in Sacramento because of a thigh contusion, but he has been a bright spot in Las Vegas.

The undrafted Houston guard finished Friday’s loss with 12 points while shooting 5 of 12 from the field and 1 of 3 on threes, five rebounds and four assists.

“I think he’s really going to be good in pick-and-rolls just because of his size and just his wingspan,” Allen said when asked what he believes Jarreau does best. “He’s got good vision, he knows the plays, it’s just now he’s in the process of learning how to deliver what those plays are because he can see them. He’s comfortable with the ball in hands, making a call and running a team. Those are the intangibles that he’s got offensively. So that skill set is there. It just needs maturing and growth and learning the position a little bit more.

“Then defensively, he’s got great length, he’s got quickness, he’s disruptive. So he’s got some NBA tools that are there that he can keep growing into for sure.”

Jarreau, 23, was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was voted to the All-American Athletic Conference Second Team last season.

▪ Garrett, who has been impressive defensively during summer league, exited Friday’s game early because of an illness and did not return. He logged just seven minutes of action before leaving the contest.

▪ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made his first Las Vegas Summer League appearance Friday at the Heat’s game against the Jazz. Also, Heat center Bam Adebayo and forward Udonis Haslem sat together at the end of the team’s bench for the second straight game.

▪ Heat guard Gabe Vincent again was held out Friday. He has not played in a summer league game this year and is unlikely to get any summer league game action in after recently returning from Tokyo, where he represented Nigeria in the Olympics.

Vincent, who is one of four players on the Heat’s summer league team with a guaranteed NBA contract for next season, is with the team in Las Vegas.

▪ The Heat will play five games as part of Las Vegas Summer League, with Friday’s contest marking the third. Next up is a matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN2).

Friday’s loss dropped the Heat to 2-1 in Las Vegas and likely ended any hope it had of qualifying for Tuesday’s summer league championship game.

Anthony Chiang

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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.