The water was rough up in Salt Lake City, but the Celtics were able to calm it.
During the first leg of a 6,450-mile journey, Boston beat the Utah Jazz 121-99, keeping number-one seed hopes alive. Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum performed most of the work in the first half, but the bench did their job to silence the Jazz’s song.
“It’s going to be one of our longest road trips,” Kristaps Porzingis told NBC Sports Boston after the game. “And we want to have a good road trip even though it’s not maybe the highest quality of teams we’re gonna play against. We want to show up and not play down to the competition.”
Boston started hot in the first quarter, building a 35-21 lead, with Jayston Tatum making two-thirds of his shots. One particular play saw Tatum channel his inner Messi after he stole the ball and did a rainbow flick, unintentionally hitting the ball up with the outside of his foot, right back into his hands for the basket.
Messi would be proud of Tatumpic.twitter.com/GqERUnyvGI
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) March 22, 2025
With Tatum on the bench to rest, Utah took advantage to squash Boston’s lead to seven at the beginning of the second quarter. This left Kristaps Porzingis to carry the Celtics point-wise, him scoring 16 out of the 25 points that quarter. Boston got the momentum back when Tatum returned, but the Jazz wouldn’t go away, hammering Boston on the offensive glass, cutting the lead to nine at the half.
The Jazz continued rolling in the third quarter, with Colin Sexton scoring eight points in the first four minutes. An 18-9 run for Utah brought them within two, but Boston stormed back with a 13-0 run of their own. Baskets by Tatum, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard contributed to the third quarter bounce back. The fourth quarter was all Celtics as the team equally contributed to finishing the Jazz off.
One eye popping stat from Friday night’s game was Boston’s 13 steals, two off of their season high. The steals made a huge difference, as the Celtics scored 26 points off of turnovers, mostly in the second half.
“Our guards and Luke [Kornet] did a good job picking up the intensity defensively,” said Porzingis, who fouled out at the beginning of the fourth quarter. “We were going through the motions a bit for a while, and that’s one thing we actually talked about. I think D White especially getting some steals, Drue with his activity, and Luke taking the rim, I think was key for us to go on a run again.”
Hauser and Payton Pritchard each reached double-digit points, 14 and 18, with most coming in the second half. As the Celtics have clinched a playoff berth, resting their starters and having bench players do the work is key. Hauser and Pritchard were able to step in, each playing around 30 minutes. With the absence of Jaylen Brown this game and next, bench players will have to contribute points.
The Celtics continue their West Coast tour at Portland on Sunday and go down the coast, hopefully getting some wins and rest along the way.
