BOSTON - How fitting for the Celtics that two plays - a block on one end and an offensive rebound on the other - sealed their win over the Jazz Monday night at the TD Garden.
The Celtics had scratched and clawed their way through 48 minutes of basketball - as did the Jazz - but it was those two extra effort plays in the final seconds that earned the Celtics a big 100-95 win over the Jazz.
Down two points after a Shelvin Mack three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in the game, Jae Crowder drained a three-pointer from the wing to put Boston up one point with 30 seconds remaining.
Out of a timeout, Gordon Hayward decided to take Avery Bradley one-on-one, hoping to back him down, create space, and hit the jumper. He did one of the three. Bradley got up on Hayward and put a clean block on his attempt. He'd end up with the ball and go to the line in hopes to put the C's up three points.
Bradley hit the first but missed the second . . . and in came Amir Johnson with the rebound off the miss, getting the ball back to Bradley where he'd be fouled.
This time, Bradley hit both and the Celtics took a four-point lead with 12 seconds to play.
That was all they needed.
Crowder led the Celtics with 22 points while Bradley and Isaiah Thomas each had 18 points. Tyler Zeller added 10 off the bench, eight in the second half.
Mack had 18 for the Jazz as did rookie Trey Lyles off the bench. Gordon Hayward scored 16 but on 6-for-20 shooting.
The C's took their first lead since the early stages of the first quarter when Evan Turner hit a cutting Zeller for a 77-76 lead with 10:18 remaining in the game.
They'd build it to five points, too. But the Jazz did not go down quietly, not after the lead they worked so hard to maintain through the first three-plus quarters.
Rodney Hood hit a three-pointer to cut it to two points, and after an Zeller dunk on a nice pass from Marcus Smart, Hayward answered with a jumper, and then Rudy Gobert hit two free throws to tie the game back up.
The teams would essentially exchange baskets the remainder of the fourth quarter.
Points were hard to come by for the C's early on in this one, as Boston had just 14 points with under three minutes to go in the first half. But Thomas hit three straight layups in the final 1:25 - including a spectacular alley-oop reverse layup - and Boston trailed 29-23 at the end of one quarter.
The Jazz opened up a 13-point lead in the early stages of the second quarter thanks in part to seven straight points by Lyles who scored seven straight points to open the second quarter.
But the C's would chip away after rookie Jordan Mickey was inserted into the game. In fact, Boston outscored Utah by seven points with Mickey in the game from 9:09 to 2:02, then trailing by our points when he was taken out for Amir Johnson.
Boston would go into half down 46-43 as Utah scored 30 points in the paint and 15 second chance points through two quarters, compared to the Celtics' 20 points in the paint and just three second chance points.
The game would remain close in the third quarter as Utah never led by more than six, and Boston cut it to one point in the final minute on two Zeller free throws.