BSJ Game Report: Celtics 126, Jazz 97 - C's start hot and never look back, stay perfect at home

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

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics defended the rim extraordinarily well to start the game, turning Jazz misses into easy chances on the other end and building a 15-point lead. That lead ballooned to 36 as Boston continued to pour it on in the second half and Utah missed almost everything. They played the third quarter basically even, with Joe Mazzulla emptying his bench with a few minutes to go in the quarter and cruising to the finish, staying perfect at home.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Smackdown: Boston came out of the gates and never gave the Jazz a chance. Utah never once threatened. They didn't score their first points until Collin Sexton free throws down 10-0 with nearly three minutes into the first quarter, and they didn’t make their first field goal until more than a minute later. At one point in the second, Utah has as many turnovers as field goals (seven). 

- Defensive effort: Some of it was just tough luck, but the Jazz opened up the first quarter shooting 5-27 overall (18.5%), and just 1-12 from deep (8.3%). Boston forced 12 turnovers before emptying the bench late in the third, which isn’t a lot, but they scored 21 points off those, which is an amazing conversion rate. 

- Jayson Tatum: Boston is basically impossible to beat if Tatum has his 3-pointer working like this. He was 5-8 from 3, drawing a four-point play on one of the makes and drawing a 3-shot foul on a ninth attempt. He dropped an easy 30 points on 12 shots because of the bombs and by going 13-14 from the line. 

TURNING POINT

There was none. They opened the game with a turnover right away and snuffed that out at the rim, leading to a 12-2 run where Boston got a ton of stops and, subsequently, a ton of easy looks. If they shot a little better in the first quarter (46% overall, 33% from 3) they would have built a lead even bigger than 15. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Rim protection: Boston blocked three shots in the first quarter, two of them within the first :35. Utah was held to 4-11 shooting in the restricted area to open the game, and as Mazzulla is constantly saying, missed layups lead to easy opportunities for the other team. This time, Boston was on the receiving end of that and it set the tone for the whole game.

- Jrue Holiday: A great bounceback game that I was hoping for in the preview. Not only did he go for 14 on 6-8 shooting, he had two of Boston’s blocked shots. 

- Passing by the Jays: Tatum and Jaylen Brown had five assists apiece. This was a chance for these guys to pad some stats but they still moved the ball, which is nice to see. 

- Sam Hauser: Not only is it always good to see the 3-pointers fall (3-7), he did other things, including catch this alley oop. 

This is the second time these two have connected on an alley-oop this season. The odds of one from Brown to Hauser were slim. The odds of two had to be astronomical. 

- Oshae Brissett: Good energy as part of that first group off the bench on a night Al Horford rested. He played some good minutes. 

- The timeout at 3:44 to go in the second quarter and Boston up 28: They didn't seem to be in any danger of blowing the lead or anything, but with more than a half of basketball to go, anything can happen in an NBA game. Mazzulla reorganized his guys, who had gotten a little sloppy, and they pushed the lead back out to 36. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

There's no way I’m even going to nitpick this game. Boston built a 36-point lead and basically kept it at 30 the rest of the way. That's how you take care of business without putting too much stress on the stars. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This is how you do it

This is the game everyone dreams about when their favorite team is good and the team they're playing is not. The good team gets out to a big run, builds on it, and never looks back. 

Boston is a very good team, and they set the tone with a very tough defense early on, and that fueled their transition offense. Boston had nine fastbreak points in the first quarter, making it basically impossible for the Jazz rim protection to kick in. 

And that's how this all feeds itself. Boston’s good defense leads to good offense, which means the opponent taking the ball out of the net and trying to go against a set defense, which then gets another stop and fuels more good looks and more makes. And with the Jazz never really getting it together enough to string a meaningful run together until it was well out of control, they never had a chance. 

I’ll get more into this separately, but Boston is a lot better at doing this kind of stuff this year. They still only have one losing streak this season, and that was only two games. They still haven't lost at home. 

I know so much of the sports energy in this town is being spent gawking at the flaming carcass of the Bill Belichick era in Foxboro. Maybe some of that time should be spent watching a team that is playing the best basketball we’ve seen in this town in about 15 years.

Next up: The Celtics have a quick turnaround as they head to Indiana for a game tomorrow night