Everything you need to know about the Jazz beating the Celtics 99-94 with BSJ insight and analysis
Box Score
Shorthanded Celtics can’t keep pace with Jazz amid bench woes: The Celtics shot an ugly 37.2 percent from the field without Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown, and their undermanned bench was exposed by the Jazz for much of the night on their way to a 99-94 defeat. It was two points shy of Boston’s lowest-scoring performance of the year. Marcus Smart had a game-high 29 points for the C’s but with Kemba Walker on a minutes limit and Jayson Tatum (7/19 FG) having an off night, there was not enough firepower from the rest of the C’s lineup to hang with Utah after giving up 62 first-half points. Mike Conley had a team-high 25 points for the visitors who handed the C’s their third straight home loss. Boston will try to get back on track on Sunday against the Thunder but they fell two full games behind the No. 2 seed in the meantime.
Kemba Walker struggles amid minutes limit: The All-Star point guard managed to score 13 points in his 26 minutes but they came inefficiently (5-of-17 FG) amid five 5-6 minutes stints over the course of the night. “It’s tough. It’s tough,” Walker said after the game. “Obviously I’m just coming in and out the game pretty fast. But it’ll come, I guess. Just gotta keep working through it and trying my hardest not to frustrate myself.” Some poor shooting nights are expected as he works himself back into shape following a three-week absence but the C’s lacked the firepower to make up for the poor shooting night with an ugly performance from the second unit and no one in the starting five shooting above 40 percent from the field besides Daniel Theis.
TURNING POINT
The Jazz closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run and that expanded to 43-18 overall in the second quarter behind some red-hot 3-point shooting by the Jazz (61 percent) and some inept defense by Boston’s second unit, helping to turn a 10-point deficit into a 13-point lead for Utah.
TWO UP
Marcus Smart: The usual 6th man was forced to be a No. 1 scoring option for the Celtics at times with Brown and Hayward out of the lineup and did his best chip to carry some extra weight, scoring a team-high 15 points in the first half on his way to a game-high 29 points.
Semi Ojeleye: The swingman went from a DNP-CD in regulation two games ago to leading the Celtics in minutes in the first half with 20. He took two charges and grabbed a team-high 5 rebounds before the break while chipping in with nine points. He wasn’t hitting the 3 but his defense helped the C’s stay in the game as a supporting piece with the starters
TWO DOWN
Enes Kanter: The big man has been a defensive negative all season long but he had a huge target on his back in this one as the Jazz ran him through the pick-and-roll and got open looks on the perimeter during his five first half minutes. The Jazz outscored the Celtics by 13 minutes in that stretch.
Boston’s bench on defense: We all know this group are supposed to compliment a healthy Celtics core but they looked like a mess on both ends of the floor in this one. Romeo Langford, Brad Wanamaker and Grant Williams were all outclassed by the Jazz bench, during a big lead in the fourth quarter into a double digit deficit.
TOP PLAY
GOT IT! pic.twitter.com/w7p7J7KLSh
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 7, 2020
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
This wasn’t a good night for Danny Ainge: The Celtics may have a good enough bench when the team is at full strength but that has not been the case for months now. We’ve now seen twice in the past week where a lack of firepower has burned this group when it's shorthanded and to make matters worse, the second unit is no longer bringing it defensively on a regular basis over the past week. It’s going to be a challenge for Brad Stevens to navigate these waters and chase the No. 2 seed effectively if he doesn’t have an above-average offensive player coming off his bench when a key injury or two hits since it’s going to force him to lean too heavily on starters or lose games. The latter happened tonight. This all could become an afterthought if the C’s do get healthy in the next week but this game was lost because of Utah’s reserves at full strength were far superior to Boston’s collection of rookies and flawed veterans. With Kemba Walker playing with a minutes limit and still shaking off some rust, there has to be some consideration given to adding a more experienced wing or two with that group not stepping up like they were earlier in the year.
Daniel Theis needs to play more when players are out: The big man has been one of the most consistent Celtics all year long and was worthy of playing 30+ minutes per night assuming he can avoid foul trouble. On a night the C’s needed additional scoring and good defense, he sat out 10-plus minutes in the second quarter while Enes Kanter and Rob Williams helped the defense dig a big hole. Williams bounced back a bit defensively in the second half (Kanter was a deserved DNP) but going away from Theis for such a long stretch proved to be incredibly costly for this group given his +19 plus/minus (team-high) in a five-point loss. Stevens mismanaged rotations in this game and needs to stop trying to spread the wealth at the center position in tough games. If guys don’t have it like we saw on Friday night early, they need to pulled.