What a game. So much to discuss…
The Celtics beat the Jazz, 98-93, thanks to a mammoth effort from their bench. Led by Jeff Green (16 points) and Leandro Barbosa (16 points), the Celtics second unit pumped out 47 points.
The highlight of the night was Green’s monster dunk in the face of Al Jefferson. Go ahead and watch the video, repeatedly. The mild mannered Green was also T’d up for taunting. It was a beautiful sight.
Barbosa played the entire 4th quarter because Rajon Rondo (6 points, 10 assists) turned his ankle (video here) in the 3rd quarter. He limped into the locker room, but returned to the bench. According to WEEI’s Mike Petraglia, Rondo walked through the locker room after the game without tape or swelling on his ankle. He’s day-to-day, according to Celtics PR.
The Jazz absolutely demolished the Celtics on the boards (48-33). Utah had 19 offensive rebounds. They nearly got double-doubles from all three of their studs: Paul Milsap (20 pts, 12 rebounds), Jefferson (13 pts, 14 reb) and Derrick Favors (14 pts, 9 reb).
Despite wilting on the glass for much of the night, the Celtics cranked up the defense and rebounding in crunch time. They held Utah scoreless over the final 1:55, giving up only one offensive rebound.
Doc Rivers managed the minutes of Paul Pierce (13 minutes) and Kevin Garnett (12 minutes) in the 1st half and it paid off in the second half. Pierce dropped 13 of his 23 points in the third quarter. KG had 7 points and 6 rebounds while playing the ENTIRE 4th quarter.
Props to Chris Wilcox for his 7 points in 18 high energy minutes. If my memory is correct, he had two follow-up dunks and another on an alley-oop.
Jason Terry took one shot in 22 minutes. So much for my prediction that he would take advantage of Gordon Hayward.
Check out this spectacular photo of Green’s dunk. How about that expression on Jared Sullinger’s face?
And here’s the GIF…
courtesy Jose3030
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