I’m asking John & Chuck for a raise for having to suffer through this utter crap fest tonight. In a game that was made worse by poor calls from whistle happy refs, the Celtics got outdone & out played by the Utah Jazz 111-93. This game was only close early on, and despite pulling to within 11 at the end of the 3rd Q, Utah was in control for most of the contest.
The Jazz got off to a torrid start, mainly from deep. The league’s 17th best three-point shooting team managed to go 9 of 13 (69%) in the first half. Couple that with Boston’s atrocious perimeter defense, and the Jazz were up 54-49 after two quarters. “But that’s only five points” you say. Well that’s mainly due to the fact that Utah turned the ball over 11 times as well as missing 8 free throws. Boston relied on Crowder and Thomas in the first half, who managed to get to the line and combine for 23 points on 11 of 11 FT shooting. Both shot poorly form the field however, which was quite contagious as you’ll see going forward. Raul Neto (who?) paced Utah with 12 first half points.
The second half found Utah cooling off considerably from downtown, but not to worry Jazz fans-Derrick Favors & Rudy Gobert simply toyed with Boston in the paint. 30 of the Jazz’ 57 second half points came in the painted area. The last 24 minutes of this game were painful to watch. Just a parade of guys walking to the free-throw line, and Boston could not get a stop if their life depended on it. Back to the subject of the charity stripe- the two teams combined to take 80 free-throws tonight. EIGHTY. Just a poor effort by Boston after a week or so off, and mainly on the defensive end. The Celts looked rusty, disinterested and had zero rhythm-which all the whistles certainly did not help. In fairness, it really would’ve been nice to have Kelly Olynyk out there as far as spreading the floor, but that’s no excuse for this poor performance. Let’s hope our guys get back to playing that hungry, relentless style of hoops that we’ve grown to love. I believe they will, and hopefully right away..
The C’s now head to Denver where they face the Nuggets on Sunday. Tip-off is at 5pm EST.
The Green:
- It was fun to watch Jordan Mickey notch two blocks in two minutes of garbage time
The Gross:
- Boston shot 3 of 13 from trey in the second half, trying to long bomb themselves back into the game
- Utah shot 54% from the field
- Celts missed 10 free throws (26 of 36)
The Greenlights:
Isaiah Thomas put this full court pass on the money! #AssistOfTheNight https://t.co/5uHWIzGYsm
— NBA (@NBA) February 20, 2016
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The Grid: (quick stats)
- Boston had 7 turnovers, Utah 15
- Second chance points: UTA 13 BOS 5
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