Recap: Celtics fall in a tough matchup with the Jazz, 111-93

Utah has always been a tough place to play in for opposing teams and that once again proved to be true tonight as the Celtics fell to the Jazz, 111-93.

Boston had a very sloppy first half shooting only 38% from the field and were not much better defensively allowing the Jazz to score 54 points on 62% from the field. However, the Celtics did force the Jazz to commit 11 turnovers compared to just 3 for the Cs, which helped to keep them in the game. The Jazz were also terrible at the charity stripe, shooting only 53%. Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder led the team with 12 points each in the half.

With the Jazz being one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA and their slow pace of play, it was quite surprising to see the Celts have as much trouble as they did with this team. Raul Neto, not known as a scoring savant, led Utah with 12 points at the half.

Coming out of halftime, Isaiah Thomas got his shot going but the Cs had a lot of troubling getting back on defense in transition which led to easy buckets for Utah. The game got even sloppier with Utah extending their lead to 17 at one point, but Boston managed to cut it to 11 by the end of the quarter. Officials were very whistle happy with the two teams taking 27 free throws combined in the quarter.

The green team cut the lead down to seven almost immediately but from that point forward, the Jazz put their foot on the gas and never let up. Gordon Hayward got to the rim at will and the Celtics were beaten up badly on the boards by Gobert. Favors, and Booker.

Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics in scoring with 25 points and Jae Crowder chipped in with 17 points of his own. For the Jazz, Rudy Gobert finished with 11 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks. Derrick Favors had quite a night himself with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks. Boston also got badly beaten on the boards as the Jazz out rebounded us 51-34. Overall, not a very good night coming out of the All-Star break for the Celts.

The Cs now stand at 32-24 with their next matchup being Sunday night in Denver against the Nuggets.

Image Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
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