The Boston Celtics came out with great purpose in the final tilt of their five-game West Coast trip Tuesday night, as they entered halftime in Salt Lake City facing just a one-point deficit to the 19-5 Utah Jazz.
However, the C’s found out the hard way that one strong half just wasn’t enough to keep them afloat against the best team in basketball.
After being held to 48 points during the first 24 minutes, Utah increased its scoring production by 50 percent in the second half when it erupted for 72. Season-high efforts from both Donovan Mitchell (36 points) and Joe Ingles (24 points) helped to pave the way for a 122-108 win, marking Utah’s 16th victory in its last 17 tries.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was pleased with how his team defended in the first half, during which it held the best 3-point shooting team to a 7-of-23 clip from long range. Boston also showed great discipline out of the gate, limiting the Jazz to just three free-throw attempts during that first half.
But as great teams do, Utah found a way to adjust in the second half. With their 3-point shot not falling at its typical rate, the Jazz began to drive the ball and draw contact, as they increased their free-throw attempts eightfold in the second half, finishing with 27 trips to the charity stripe.
“In the first half, no matter what the matchup was, we switched a lot so we could guard the 3-point line, and I thought we did a really good job,” said Stevens. “But they came out, they shifted over some actions to make the angles a little bit more difficult, lowering their head and driving and making the officials call fouls, and playing with great force.”
Their ability to drive the ball “changed the game,” Stevens noted. “It opened everything up, opened the floodgates … They put us in a bind, and we were on our heels from that point on. So yeah, in the first half I thought we were great. But it’s not good enough to be great for 24 minutes against this team.”
Utah showed the C’s what offensive greatness should look like, as it dished out 28 assists on 40 made field goals. Their pristine passing came as no surprise to Stevens, who before tip-off compared Utah’s ball movement to that of the 2014 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs.
“I think it's the closest team to the ‘14 Spurs that we've played with the way the ball moves and how quickly the right decision is made,” Stevens said. “The ball doesn't stick.”
This game will stick in the minds of the Celtics’ players as they head home to Boston hoping to emulate what they just saw out of the Jazz in terms of teamwork and communication.
“They’ve got the best record in the league and it showed,” said Jaylen Brown, who put up 33 points after missing the previous two games due to left knee soreness. “The way they played, the freedom, the flow they have to their team is really good right now, and we’ve got to find a better flow for ourselves. We had some disconnectedness at times and the game almost seems a little harder than it should be. If we just trust each other, we’re in the right spots, and things like that, the game will be a lot easier than it has been for us.”
The Celtics will look to straighten out those areas of need when they return home to take on the Toronto Raptors Thursday night in the first game of a much-needed lengthy homestand.
addByline("Taylor Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow");