The folks on CLNS Media’s the Garden Report like to use the term “Phenomenal” to describe really good Celtics performances, team or individual. Phenomenal doesn’t do justice in describing the C’s overall play Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz.
Try flawless.
After ripping through a 4 game western trip the Celtics returned hime and registered perhaps their most impressive win of the season, 125-97 beat down of the Utah Jazz Wednesday night at TD Garden. The Celtics made their first 10 shots to build an early 28-12 lead and Utah never recovered.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston with 26 points each. Marcus Smart dished out a career high 13 assists and Robert Williams out-dueled reigning defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert racking up 10 rebounds and 4 blocks to go along with 12 points, 2 assists and 2 steals.
It was the fifth straight win for Boston overall and 21st in their last 24 games The win raised the Celtics record to 46-28 on the season.
Marcus Smart: The Celtics shot 77 percent in the first quarter. Of the 13 baskets not made by Marcus Smart in the quarter the Celtics point guard assisted on 9 of them. They 9 dimes tied a franchise record held by Rajon Rondo for the most in one quarter. Smart only attempted 3 field goals for the game scoring 5 points but embraced his role as facilitator to perfection. As a whole the Celtics finished with a season-high 37 assists on 50 made baskets which equates to a 74% assist rate.
Celtics Bench: The Celtics starters helped build an early lead and there was virtually no let down once the reserves came in. Derrick White appears to slowly be snapping out of his shooting slump (10 pts, 4-10, 2-3 3pt-FG) while Daniel Theis played his best game of his Celtics 2.0 career. Theis is starting to play with more bounce as evidenced by his monster block on an attempted dunk attempt by Jordan Clarkson. Payton Pritchard continued his hot shooting knocking down his first 3 field goal attempts.
Donovan Mitchell: Mitchell was the lone bright spot for Utah as he finished with a game-high 37 points. The Jazz were without Bojan Bogdanovic and Danuel House Jr. and Mitchell had to carry the load as no other member of the Jazz stepped up offensively.
Rudy Gobert: In a battle of bigs vying for NBA All-defensive honors Gobert was outshined by Robert Williams III and it’s wasn’t particularly close. Gobert managed 14 points (almost all coming after the game was well out of reach) and 11 boards, both below his season averages. But more importantly Gobert failed to register a block or assert his defensive presence on the game. The Celtics got what they wanted, when they wanted it and Gobert was not his usual disruptive self.
TURNING POINT
This game was OVA earlier as Boston hit its first 10 shots. Boston led by 15 after 1, 23 at the half. Utah never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
SO THAT HAPPENED…
A win, paired with a Miami Heat loss puts Boston only 1.5 games behind the top-seeded Heat in a virtual tie with Philadelphia and Milwaukee in the East.
Not only did Miami lose (their second straight and 4th in last 7 games) but there was some turmoil on the bench as well. After a 19-0 Golden State run in the second half head coach Eric Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler got into it on the bench. Udonis Haslem jumped to Spoelstra’s defense, getting in Butler’s face. Haslem could be overheard telling Butler repeatedly “I’ll beat your ass.” The two had to be separated.
The Celtics still have one game remaining with both Miami and Milwaukee over the next two weeks which means Boston has some control of their final seeding.
THAT’S WHAT HE SAID
After 130 games spanning two seasons playing 500 ball the Celtics often found themselves searching for answers. But over the last 25-30 games it’s mainly been Celtics opponents scratching their heads wondering what went wrong and how to fix it. Such was the case again last night in the Jazz postgame locker room.
“It starts with, are we willing to sacrifice for for each other?” Gobert said. “I think we are going to get there … We’re going to have to do things for each other. When you watch every championship team it’s not just about having talent, it’s about having guys that are willing to do things for each other.”
“We just didn’t match their energy level, we deserved to get beat at that point,” Mitchell said.
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