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SALT LAKE CITY – Tuesday night’s matchup between the Celtics and Jazz featured a team effort from Boston and a monster effort from Trey Lyles.
The team ball won, 89-82.
Boston, which did not have a single player log more than 17 points on the night, pulled out the victory in front of more than 7,000 fans at Vivant Smart Home Arena. Four Celtics scored between 10 and 17 points on the night, and seven Celtics scored during the final period en route to the win.
The Celtics overcame an impressive performance from Lyles, a second-year forward for the Jazz. Lyles racked up game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds on the night.
For the majority of the contest, Boston had no answer for Lyles, who stands in at 6-foot-10 and 234 pounds. Lyles took advantage of the absences of Jaylen Brown and Jordan Mickey by pounding the ball down on the block. Lyles shot 8-of-20 from the field and made nine of his 10 free throw attempts.
Boston, however, was able to overcome Lyles’ big night with team-oriented offense. The Celtics moved the ball to the tune of 13 assists on 27 made baskets, and its ball movement put pressure on Utah’s defense that the Jazz simply could not handle.
The C’s took advantage of Utah’s rotating defense by getting to the line for a whopping 37 free throw attempts. Boston shot 27-of-37 from the line, which marked 10 more makes and 16 more attempts than Utah.
On the back of strong first-half play from Lyles, who scored 13 points over the opening two quarters, the Jazz led for the majority of the half. They pulled ahead by 10 points less than five minutes into the game, marking the largest lead of the night.
Boston answered quickly with a 9-0 run, including five points from Malcolm Miller, over the course of only 100 seconds. That spurt cut Utah’s lead down to one, and the game was neck-and-neck for the remainder of the night.
Neither team led by more than five points during the second quarter, and the Jazz held a 50-47 advantage heading into the locker rooms.
The third quarter was when the Celtics truly found their groove. They opened the period with an 8-0 run that was punctuated by a James Young 3-pointer from the left wing. That run gave the C’s a 55-50 lead, and they never looked back from that point on.
Boston pulled ahead by as many as nine points during the final period, but Utah wouldn’t go away. The C’s held only a four-point advantage during the final 30 seconds of the game before Young came up big yet again. The third-year swingman canned his fourth and final trey of the night, this time from the right corner off of a kick-out from Terry Rozier, with 18.9 seconds left in the game to give his team a comfortable cushion.
Young finished as Boston’s leading scorer with 17 points. He shot 4-of-5 from long range. Rozier, meanwhile, tallied 16 points to go along with six rebounds and a game-high four assists.
Also of note were the 13 points and eight rebounds that Guerschon Yabusele tallied. Yabusele, who was selected 16th overall by the Celtics in last month’s Draft, was coming off of a performance Monday night that featured only five points on 1-of-5 shooting. Micah Shrewsberry, head coach of the Celtics in Salt Lake City, said that he wanted to call Yabusele’s number more often Tuesday night so that the big man could “come out and make a statement and be featured.”
Yabusele capitalized on his opportunity by making five shots and attacking the glass at both ends of the floor. He, along with Young, Rozier and Marcus Thornton, accounted for Boston’s four players who scored in double-digits.
On the other side of the ball, only Lyles and Dionte Christmas scored in double-figures for the Jazz.
Boston now stands at 2-0 on the week despite playing Tuesday night without the services of R.J. Hunter (sore right wrist), Jaylen Brown (hyperextended right knee) and Jordan Mickey (sore left shoulder).
The Celtics will have Wednesday off before returning to the court at 7 p.m. Thursday night, when they will take on the Spurs with a chance to put a cap on an undefeated stay in Salt Lake City.