BSJ Game report: Celtics 122, Jazz 114 - Tatum's 39, Brogdon's third quarter takeover, lead C's past Utah

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' win over the Utah Jazz with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

Both teams started really slow, with a turnover and miss-filled first quarter. The Jazz led because of offensive rebounds and the Celtics hung around thanks to free throws. The Celtics picked it up in the second behind Derrick White and taking better care of the ball. The Celtics opened and closed the third quarter with runs, sandwiched around the Jazz making it close. Malcolm Brogdon’s late push gave Boston a 17-point lead. Jayson Tatum hit them with the death blow late in the fourth. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Just enough effort: Remember the other day when I said Milwaukee showed Boston how to dust off a bad team? This was a similar formula. The Celtics looked sluggish, they picked it up when they needed to, got some separation in the third, then the star player finished them off. 

Tired legs: I'll get into this more separately, but the Celtics couldn't get out of Milwaukee last night, so they had to pivot, stay there, and fly in this morning. Needless to say, there were not many well-rested guys out there. 

Malcolm Brogdon’s value evident: This folds in his performance from last night, but Brogdon is really showing off just how valuable it is to have a player of his caliber coming off the bench. It’s not that it’s a big revelation or anything -- he’s one of the frontrunners for Sixth Man of the Year -- but it certainly highlights his value. 

Blake Griffin was a dose of chaos: The Celtics needed someone to give them an extra boost there in the fourth quarter when their energy might have waned. He provided that by drawing an offensive foul, probably taking two more that didn’t get called correctly, and generally being a nuisance to the Jazz. 

TURNING POINT

The Jazz had cut it to 4, 72-68 with 4:32 left when Joe Mazzulla called a timeout. They came out of that break on a quick 9-0 run thanks to a pair of Malcolm Brogdon 3-pointers and one from Grant Williams that Brogdon assisted on. He later assisted on another Williams 3 and then hit Sam Hauser with a gorgeous dime in transition and Boston went into the fourth up 15. 

FIVE UP

Jayson Tatum: He scored 17 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and 11 in the first. The rest of the time he was trying to navigate double teams. 

“He did a great job of just accepting the double team, getting off of it, and then continuing to play after that. And that's so hard to guard,” Griffin said. “The reason teams double is … they hope to get it out of your hands and that you relax, and he didn't relax for one second. It's almost like when he got off the ball, he was engaged more. And when he plays like that, I mean, kid got double-teamed all night and had 39.”

Most importantly, he was 5-8 from 3. For a guy who has been searching for his shot all season long, it feels like the 8-10 last night and this shooting night against Utah are a little more meaningful than usual. Oh and he had zero turnovers for the second straight night. 

Malcolm Brogdon: Continuing the theme from earlier, getting 19 points, 7 assists, and a big takeover stretch like he’s given Boston on consecutive nights is huge. On a night where Jaylen Brown was clearly off, it’s a huge luxury to have a guy like Brogdon stepping up. 

“I thought when Jayson and Jaylen both came out, I thought the lineup with Derrick and Malcolm, I thought they spearheaded that lineup with their pace and their decision making,” Mazzulla said. “I thought Malcolm went on a small run by himself. We have the ability to play different ways, we have a lot of depth, we can play small and big. When Malcolm is at his best, he really provides that second unit with a big spark so I thought he was great tonight.”

Derrick White: A team-high +16 for White, who always seems to find his way on the higher side of the +/- stats. 

Blake Griffin: 12 rebonds overall, 5 on the offensive end, and 5 assists for Griffin who changed the energy of the game late. 

“We were creating just enough chaos, and I thought it was important. We needed that,” Mazzulla said of Griffin’s late minutes. “We needed something to enhance our focus and our energy for the last five minutes and so I thought Blake provided that. Once we took the timeout, it was more about finishing the game. But Blake is in that category where any time we call his name, he brings a physicality and a joy and an energy that feeds off our team, and our team feeds off it.”

Grant Williams: 5-6 from the field, 3-4 from 3, and he hit those big ones in that third quarter turning point run. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 assists on a +10 night. 

ONE DOWN

Jaylen Brown: He had a few spectacular plays, but it felt like Brown was sluggish and out of it. I think he should have sat this game out because he flat out did not have it. 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER 

- Blake Griffin might win the Celtics a playoff game

He’s in a much different role than he was in Brooklyn, and given the team he has around him, he might be able to change the energy of a playoff game not going Boston’s way. 

“He's just brought a different type of energy for us,” Marcus Smart said “He's taking charges, he's contesting at the rim, he's getting in there and getting offensive rebounds, getting us extra shots. He's knocking down his shots when he's open. Just doing all the little things that this team needs to really get us going. Especially on a night like this when the energy is down, to have Blake on your team is great.”

Griffin was certainly an instigator for the Celtics in this game. He stood there and took a few shots directly to the chest, but not all of the charges were called. In a weird way, I think the non-calls fired the Celtics up as their energy was dwindling. 

“I guess you can say that,” Smart said when I asked him about it. Okay, the team was skeptical of my premise, but Smart played along. “We had a few boosts from everywhere, but that was definitely one of those. He's working his tail off, he's doing everything right and the no-calls aren't being called and we feel that. We feel that emotion that he's going through. We feel the work that he's put in and energy that he's expending doing it. So when you see a guy doing that, it makes you feel bad if you're not. So we want to up it up and try to pick our energy up to match his intensity.”

That kind of impact will go a long way if a playoff game is going badly. A guy just being willing to put his body on the line will get that kind of emotion out of everybody. 

- Grant Williams has learned his lesson

Once again, I did not see him get into it with any officials, nor did he celebrate any of the 3-pointers that he hit. The stuff he was doing before his benching is gone. 

I don’t know if the message came from the team, from someone close to him, a teammate, or just from within, but the message has been received. Grant is taking care of business in a business-like manner. 

Next up: The Celtics visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.