On the road against one of the hottest teams in the NBA, the Boston Celtics were short-handed as usual with a starting lineup that had never played together.
We have seen the Celtics put together gutsy performances and somehow find a way to win and Wednesday proved to be no exception.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown drained a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds to play to cap off a 9-0 Celtics run to end the game and leave Utah with a 97-94 win – the Celtics’ only lead in the fourth quarter.
Brown had 21 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field while rookie Jayson Tatum had 16 points for the Celtics (52-23) who are now riding a five-game winning streak which includes capping off their final West coast trip of the season with a flawless 4-0 record.
The Celtics seemed on the verge of folding in the fourth, only for Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin to combine for four consecutive 3-pointers which cut Utah’s lead to 85-84.
“We’re fighters,” said Larkin who came off the bench for 10 points. “That’s what we do. We’re going to go out there and fight, one through 15.”
Rozier had 13 points for what was his 24th straight game scoring in double figures.
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But a basket by ex-Celtic Jae Crowder and another by Donovan Mitchell put the Jazz ahead 89-84 with just under five minutes to play.
The Jazz opened the third quarter with a 30-10 run to go ahead 69-58, only for Boston to close out the quarter with a 9-2 run that cut Utah’s lead to 71-67 going into the fourth.
Boston got off to a sluggish start, shooting just 31.8 percent from the field in the first quarter.
Despite their struggles from the field, Boston trailed by only six points (24-18) after the game’s first 12 minutes of play.
Leading the Celtics early on was Tatum, the only Celtics player to start every game this season.
Wednesday’s game was billed as a matchup between Tatum and Mitchell, two of the top three rookies in the NBA this season (the other is Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons).
While Tatum and Mitchell may be close in the eyes of many, Wednesday’s matchup in the first half was all Tatum.
He scored off the dribble, driving to the basket and from 3-point range with many of his shots coming over Mitchell.
But as the second quarter rolled around, Boston began to get contributions from others.
An Abdel Nader steal and subsequent lay-up tied the game at 30.
Boston went ahead 34-32 on a 13-foot jumper by Aron Baynes with 4:52 to play in the half.
The Celtics continued to surge ahead as their lead peaked at 46-34 following a 3-pointer by Brown, his second make in the second quarter as part of a 28-10 run by Boston.
Utah was able to cut into the Celtics lead near the end of the second quarter which ended with the Celtics ahead 48-39.