Celtics-Jazz takeaways: Utah shows why it’s the best in the West

Celtics

Celtics-Jazz takeaways: Utah shows why it’s the best in the West

The Boston Celtics fought hard vs. the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, but it just wasn’t enough to take down the Western Conference’s top team.

The C’s led by three to start the fourth quarter and were unable to hold on. They were outscored 40-30 in the final 12 minutes as the Jazz’s hot 3-point shooting was simply too much to handle.

Highlights: C’s fail to close out Jazz, lose 117-109

Leading the way for the Celtics were Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with 29 and 28 points respectively. Outside of Boston’s two stars, there wasn’t a ton to be excited about on the box score.

Here are three immediate takeaways from the C’s 117-109 loss, which brings them to 20-19 on the season:

1. Utah shows why it’s the best in the West.

If you haven’t gotten around to watching the Utah Jazz this season, you’ve missed out on some tremendous basketball. With the top spot in the West (30-18 after the win), Utah continues to show it’ll be a force to be reckoned with down the stretch.

The Jazz buried the C’s with 19 3-pointers (44.2 percent) on Tuesday night. This wasn’t an anomaly. Utah is third in the NBA in 3-point percentage this season at 39.6, trailing only the Los Angeles Clippers (41.8) and Brooklyn Nets (40.5). Every active player on the roster drilled a 3 except big man Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.

While his teammates were red-hot from 3, Gobert made his 7-foor-1 presence felt with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks. He also hit 6 of his 7 free throws. Why is that noteworthy, you ask? Well, the Celtics attempted only four free throws the entire game.

The Jazz attempted 24 free throws and hit 22 of them. That’s what we like to call a difference-maker.

2. Calling all bench scorers…

… Bueller? Bueller?

It’s no secret the C’s could really use some bench scoring these days. With the NBA trade deadline approaching, Danny Ainge is in the spotlight as the basketball world wonders whether the Celtics GM will make a move for a significant depth piece.

Tuesday night’s loss showed why a move needs to happen if this team is to go anywhere in the playoffs. Semi Ojeleye was thrust into the starting lineup with Tristan Thompson out (health and safety protocols) and it didn’t go well. He finished with zero points in 19 minutes.

While the C’s undoubtedly are thrilled to have Marcus Smart back, he didn’t provide much in the way of scoring either. He ended up with five points on 2-for-10 shooting. That isn’t going to get it done.

Tatum and Brown got some help from Kemba Walker (16 pts) and Daniel Theis (15 pts, 11 reb), but they’re going to need much more than that going forward. Otherwise, Boston is going to continue to crumble in crunch time.

3. C’s frontcourt suddenly is a strength.

Two bright spots for the Celtics in the loss were Daniel Theis and Robert Williams. The two big men stepped up and made an impact in Tristan Thompson’s absence.

Theis finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds despite the tough matchup in Gobert. He also made a difference as a playmaker with six assists on the night.

Time Lord continues to show why he deserves big minutes. He followed a stellar performance vs. Houston with a 14-point, nine-rebound showing against Utah. He also notched two blocks while providing some highlight-reel plays:

Williams earned some key minutes down the stretch for Boston on Tuesday. It’ll be worth monitoring those crunch time minutes going forward, especially if Thompson misses more time.

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The Celtics will host the Cleveland Cavaliers on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Be sure to tune in to Celtics Pregame Live on NBC Sports Boston at 7 p.m.