Jaylen Brown buries game-winner to beat the Jazz, 97-94.


The Boston Celtics limped into Utah for a matchup with the Jazz and Jaylen Brown knocked down the game-winner just ahead of the final buzzer to finish off the West Coast road trip with a 4-0 record and the C's won their 5th-straight, 97-94.

Aside from the game-winning bucket, Brown led the Celtics with 21 points on 6 of 8 shooting (3-3 from three) to go along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a pair of steals. Jayson Tatum chipped in 16 and Terry Rozier, despite a slow start, finished strong with 13 points and 7 rebounds including some huge threes late. Shane Larkin stepped up tonight with 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists off the bench and helped steady the C's 2nd unit. The Celtics were missing Marcus Morris and Al Horford, along with the rest of the list of wounded soldiers.

For the Jazz, Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points and dished 6 assists and our old pal Jae Crowder scored 16 off the bench. Rudy Gobert was a massive presence on the defensive end and he tallied a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Celtics came out of the gates quickly, jumping to a 12-5 advantage to start. Guerschon Yabulsele got on the board early as he knocked down his first attempt from three:



Narrator: Every word of this was true.

The Jazz ripped off a 19-6 run to close out the 1st behind some stellar defense, but the C's managed to climb back in control with a big 2nd quarter. Tatum, Brown, and Abdel Nader (you read that right) got busy scoring and the Celtics rolled into the half up 9 points despite a quiet 1st half from Rozier (0-4 from the field). Tatum led the team with 12 points in the first half, showing off his arsenal on the offensive end in the process:


Donovan Mitchell got hot to start the 3rd, scoring 10 straight points to put the Jazz back on top about midway through. Attacking the rim and getting to the line certainly helped:


Utah would extend that lead to 11 before the C's would yet again rally back, clawing back to within 4 heading into the 4th, 71-67. Semi Ojeleye got hot during the C's run, going on perhaps the best offensive stretch of his rookie season:


Scary Terry also heated up in the 4th, knocking down a trio of threes to keep the C's alive. After lingering within striking distance most of the final quarter the Celtics managed to knot the score with 1:09 left on a steal from Brown that lead to a Jayson Tatum tomahawk jam on the break.

Mitchell dribbled some time off the clock and then failed to get the ball to Crowder in a good spot. The Celtics nearly nabbed a turnover but Jae was able to get the ball away to Joe Ingles, who forced up a bad shot as the shot clock expired and Shane Larkin corraled the rebound - Celtics ball. Then this happened:


WHAT. A. GAME. And what a finish. The more and more the odds get stacked against them and this team just finds ways to win games. It's unbelievable.


Photo Credit - NBA.com

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