If there was any particular way Celtics fans wanted the new year to begin, it was watching Isaiah Thomas pave the way to another impressive win on Tuesday night.
In the team’s first game back after a four day break, they hosted the Utah Jazz at the TD Garden in a matchup between two teams currently sitting within the top 10 in the NBA power rankings. Head Coach Brad Stevens had commented beforehand that the team had to keep their foot on the gas entering the new year, and that is exactly what they did as they easily took down the Jazz 115-104. In just about every aspect of the game the Celtics looked healthy, fresh and precise while moving the ball around and setting themselves up for key 3-pointers. Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder each hit five from long range as well as three and two from Horford and Bradley, respectively. Another two from the bench puts them at 17 3-pointers for the second game in a row, which is a welcome sight to fans who have been bothered as of late with useless jumpers from deep. Shooting 54.8% from 3-point range is better than the team’s current season average as well as Tuesday night’s FG percentage which ran in at 55.4%.
Coming off of a scoring frenzy in which he scored a franchise record 52 points, Isaiah Thomas once again looked like a worthy candidate for the league MVP. Thomas played 35 minutes and came away with 29 points, 4 rebounds and 15 ASSISTS. That’s right, 15. Thomas was dishing out dimes and his doing so more or less kept the Celtics with a safe lead throughout the entirety of the game. The performances Thomas has been putting on as of late have not only been impressive, but they have been of elite caliber. Currently averaging 27.7 PPG, Thomas sits at No. 5 in the league in terms of points per game. Only Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and James Harden are currently averaging more. Enough said there.
Overall, it was an impressive and efficient team win by the Celtics with Crowder and Horford each scoring 21 points, Avery Bradley adding an additional 14 and rookie Jaylen Brown scoring 10 off the bench.
The Celtics have now won four of their last five games and eight of their last ten. Are they getting hot? Sure looks like it. Confidence is key and this team has it, and with no intentions of slowing down.
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