Final: Jazz 137, Celtics 130 - Celtics play well but Jazz scorching shooting too much

Game 23: Boston Celtics (12-10, T-6th East) vs. Utah Jazz (14-7, 3rd West)
Vivint Arena
9:00 PM, NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS: 

Boston: Dennis Schröder, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams, Al Horford

Utah: Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Jaylen Brown is out again with tightness in his hamstring. 

“He just got tight,” Ime Udoka said after the team’s morning shoot around. “He may have tweaked an ankle, hamstring, the achilles, something late in the game. May have showed him hobbling more because of that. But this is a thing we’ll have to monitor when he comes back, he missed quite a few games. We’ll just see how his body feels with the increase in minutes.”

It’s still unclear how long Brown will be out. The Celtics fly to Portland after the game for a game tomorrow against the Blazers.

“We’ll look at his treatment tonight and tomorrow,” Udoka said. “Then we’ll evaluate him before the game.”

- Utah is favored by 8

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

A challenge of both team’s strengths: 

Utah comes into the game with a 115.2 offensive rating, best in the league. Boston comes in with a 104.5 defensive rating, tied for fourth in the league. That's a far cry from where they started the season. 

“I think just at the beginning we were just blindly switching everything. Not really with a whole lot of game plan, thinking involved,” Josh Richardson said. “But it was putting us out on tough matchups ... Ime and the coaches have done a good job of switching that up and helping us see where we can stay matched and where we should switch up.”

That was by design. The Celtics coaching staff inundated the team with the switching style because it was foreign to them.

“Ime and his staff did a good job,” Brad Stevens said in his weekly Toucher and Rich radio appearance. “They put in a  lot of different switching and rotating and covering for each other early, and then went with a few more traditional coverages as options. And now they’ve got them all as options.”

Now those options meet the best offense in the league.  That's an offense that's gotten fat against the worst defenses in the league. Of their 21 games, only four have come against teams currently in the top 15 in defensive rating. The best they’ve faced is Chicago, currently 9th, and lost, scoring only 99 points.

This is a proving ground for both teams. Either the Celtics stingy defense will show its mettle against an elite offense, or Utah’s scoring prowess will be too strong for even the league’s biggest brick walls.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. The switching defense: This is where the early work can really pay off. If there's a real weak spot on the Jazz, it’s when opponents switch everything and Gobert is matched up against a guard. That's not something he’s able to attack, which is why he becomes ineffective in the playoffs. Watch for the Celtics to challenge him on offense and also challenge Utah’s ball movement. If the Jazz drift into isolation basketball, the Celtics can win this game.

2. Turnovers: The Jazz are a bit turnover prone. They're 22nd in the NBA in turnover percentage and 21st in opponent points off turnovers. If that switching defense can lull Utah into isos, then passes will more likely come off failed drives. There will be passing lanes to jump into and get out in transition.

3. Marcus Smart’s performance: He has been very good lately but he’s better with Schröder coming off the bench. Smart is a good point guard, but he’s not a great shooting guard. Can Smart still move the ball and distribute like has been?

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.