Celtics impressively take down the Jazz in Utah, 112-104


The Celtics went into Utah tonight shorthanded once again without Jae Crowder or Avery Bradley and defeated the Jazz 112-104. The game was never really too close as the Celtics had control of the pace for the entire contest.

The first half saw the Celtics playing great team defense and passing the ball well on offense. Gerald Green had 14 points in the first half off the bench and he played very well. Jaylen Brown, who started again, showed his presence early going to the basket and rebounding the ball. Isaiah came out of the gates scoring early and often for the Celtics. By the half they were up 58-44 while shooting 67% as a team.

The second half saw more of the same as Boston continued to pressure Utah by capitalizing on Utah's missed shot opportunities and taking the ball to the hole. Kelly Olynyk has himself quite the game with 19 points, most of them coming in the second half. Folks, we also had a JAMES YOUNG siting as he came off the bench to contribute some great offense. Jaylen Brown didn't start to come out of the half as he was listed as out for the game with a hip strain. This all led to Gerald Green and James Young playing big minutes off the bench.

Utah tried to creep back into the game in the 4th quarter by cutting the lead down to 9 at one point with just over a minute left. The Celtics were up 85-65 and the Jazz cut it to 105-96 and then 108-102 but the Celtics played some good defense and prevented the comeback from ensuing by making their free throws.

For the Celtics, Isaiah Thomas once again led the team in scoring with 29 points. Al Horford also played well with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The bench unit was huge in this one for the Cs as Gerald Green finished with 16 points, Kelly Olynyk chipped in 19 points and 7 rebounds while James Young added in 10 points of his own. For the Utah Jazz, Gordon Hayward scored most of his 31 points in the 4th quarter and George Hill had 22 points of his own. Rudy Gobert was a hard boxout as he finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Celtics now at 35-19, winners of 9 out their last 10, travel to Dallas on Monday to take on the Mavericks on the last game of their road trip. Tip-off for the game is at 8:30pm E/T. Very impressive win for the Celts.

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Image Credit: Getty Images/NBA Twitter