The Celtics finished off their four-game road trip with a 114-103 win over the Utah Jazz. The Celtics went 3-1 during the trip with wins over the Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, & the Jazz. Their only loss came when they played the Los Angeles Lakers, a close game that saw Jayson Tatum tie his career-high in points with 41. After that loss, the Celtics had to travel to Portland to face the Trail Blazers who would be without Damian Lillard. The Celtics would go on and win that game behind a game-high 36 from Tatum. After the game, the Celtics would fly to Utah for a tough back-to-back game with the Jazz who is led by their first-time all-star Donovan Mitchell and their two time, reigning defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert.
During the first quarter, the Celtics defense was forcing the Jazz to a lot of poor jump shots and limiting their penetration into the paint. The defense was performing so well that they held the Jazz to only 6 points on 2 /13 shooting with 4:46 left. Tatum who has been superb during this road trip (entering this game has been averaging 35 ppg during the trip) scored seven points in the first quarter. However, despite the strong defense, the Celtics were only up 23-15 at the end of the first quarter.
That strong defense the Celtics were performing, forcing the Jazz into tough pull up shots and limiting drives to the rim, completely disappeared in the second quarter. Enter Donovan Mitchell, the 13th pick in the 2017 draft. Mitchell had two quick fouls in the first quarter and was benched for most of the first. In the second quarter, he came out firing. From mid-range jumpers to aggressive drives, he was making everything, truly showing why he deserved to be an all-star this year. The Celtics though, also have an all-star that they drafted in the 2017 draft, Jayson Tatum. Both all-stars went bucket for bucket, respectively scoring seven straight points for their respective teams. The Jazz were able to cut the first-quarter deficit due to a 17-3 run. The Jazz were up 43-39 with 3:30 left and shooting 75% during the second quarter. The Celtics could not buy a basket, so they did the one thing that has always worked during the past 5 games, give the ball to Tatum. Tatum alone went on a 9-0 run and scored 11 of the Celtics final 13 points to close the quarter. The Celtics went into halftime leading 53-51.
After the intermission, the game went back and forth no team could seem to find the right defensive formula to slow the other team down. Jaylen Brown started to find his groove scoring 10 points in the third quarter and help the Celtics push their lead to six with 1:34 left. The Jazz would continue to scrape back into the game and tie it at 82 only for their former player, Gordon Hayward, to drill a big three right before the end of the quarter for the Celtics to claim a three-point lead going into the fourth.
Heading into the fourth quarter it was looking like whoever had the ball last, either Tatum or Mitchell would have the chance for a game-winner. However, another former Jazz player, Enes Kanter, started the quarter strong scoring four straight points to increase their lead to seven warranting a Jazz timeout. Usually, when a team calls a timeout it is used to kill the momentum of the other team. This time, however, it seemed to heat up Marcus Smart. Smart drilled three straight three-point attempts. If you are a Celtics fan, you know when Smart gets hot he will 99 out of 100 times shoot a “heat check” shot. I guess the other night was the 100th time because he had the opportunity to shoot another three for potentially his fourth straight, but he delivered a beautiful wrap-around pass to Enes Kanter who made a tough catch and finish to further the lead 100-87 with 7:22 left. The game was pretty much in the bag at that point. Whenever the Jazz would hit a three or go on a little run, it was stifled by a shot from Brown or Tatum. The Celtics were able to see out the game to secure their third win on the final day of their four-game road trip.
Jayson Tatum has been playing like an all-star all season, but ever since the Clippers game right before the all-star game, he has started to show his potential as an elite player. In February, Tatum is averaging 30.5 points and 7 rebounds while shooting 50.7% from the field and 49% from three. People said early in the season that the Celtics will make the playoffs but shouldn’t be taken as a threat to reach the finals. However, with the major leap Tatum is taking, it is hard to argue the Celtics don’t have much of a shot as the next team. Oh, and during the past 4 games, the Celtics were without Kemba Walker. Some will think once Kemba comes back into the lineup it will hurt the rhythm that Tatum is currently in. People think this since last season we saw that happen when Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were reintroduced to a team that made it to game seven of the ECF the year prior. This year is different. Kemba is not Kyrie. From all the games I watched last year, I cannot remember a single time where Kyrie deferred to Tatum. Kyrie wanted to be the number one guy in Boston and did not want to be overshadowed by a young “kid”. When Kyrie was in Cleveland he was the second option to LeBron. When Irving was traded, he no longer wanted to be the “sidekick” he wanted to be the go to guy with Tatum to be the second option. Kemba is different. Kemba is embracing the growth of Tatum and Brown. Multiple times this year Kemba has willingly deferred to Tatum when Tatum was in his bag. Kemba is not hesitant to give the ball to Tatum when the Celtics need a big shot. The strides Tatum is taking this season is only a glimpse of what he is capable of and if he can continue playing at this high level, it will be very difficult to defeat this Celtics team in the playoffs.
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