The Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz participated in a basketball game officially sanctioned by the National Basketball Association tonight. For 47 minutes and 58 seconds, that was the nicest thing I can say about this contest.
I watched it. I watched all of it. I did it because I had to sit down write these words after it was done. I enjoyed this as much I would have enjoyed stumbling across a sex tape made by my parents. I enjoyed this as much I would have enjoyed lobby security camera footage of people leaving a veterinarian’s office after putting down their family pet.
This is to say I did not enjoy this game.
The NBA saw fit to have two teams travel from different cities to play a back-to-back game tonight. They had fans pay for it. They had people from out of time subscribe to League Pass for it. Sure, we witnessed Tyler Zeller hit a buzzer beater to give the Celtics a win they had almost blown, but let’s not forget the final score was 85-84.
The Jazz came out to an 11-4 lead over the first 6:30 0f the game, but Jae Crowder immediately doubled the Celtics point total with a couple of quick baskets after he and Isaiah Thomas checked in. It sparked a 10-0 run over the next 5 minutes to get the Celtics right back into things. Then Utah turned around and scored 6 straight and ended up taking a 1 point lead after the back-and-forth quarter.
The 2nd quarter was a disgusting display of ineptitude as both teams combined for 8 points in the first 6 minutes. COMBINED FOR 8 POINTS!!! They combined for 30 points in the quarter. They shot 11 of 36…. meaning 2 NBA teams couldn’t even combine to make a basket per minute. The Celtics shot 27%. Utah shot 36%. It was disgusting. And yet, a great Smart steal, basket, and foul with .08 left gave the Celtics a 1 point lead at the half.
Avery Bradley came out of the half scorching hot, hitting 4 quick shots and scoring 11 points in the first few minutes to help extend the Celtics lead to as high as 7, which in this game felt like it was more like 70. But Utah came back to tie the game at 45 after a 7-0 run. A couple straight Jerebko shots pushed the lead back up to what it would be after 3…Celtics by 6.
The Celtics pushed the lead to a whopping NINE points early in the 4th. But Utah wouldn’t let that be the insurmountable lead it seemed to be. They cut it to 3 with 1:44 left on a Gordan Hayward (took a while to mention him) 3. Trey Burke cut it to 1, and then Hayward came through to give the Jazz a 1 point lead with just under 2 seconds left. After a pair of time outs, Smart found Zeller under the basket for the game-winning layup at the buzzer.
The Green:
The Celtics have now moved to 5-1 on the back-end of back-to-backs. All things considered this season, that’s a mind-blowing statistic.
Isaiah Thomas had another 10 4th quarter points… which is almost half of his 21 points for the game. He continues to lead the entire NBA in 4th quarter scoring.
Jae Crowder continues to flourish in the Isaiah Thomas era. Another 18 points tonight, including the quick spurt in the 1st that kept the Celtics in it early.
Jonas Jerebko was massively important to the Celtics 4th quarter success. He got his hands on a lot of loose balls that kept possessions alive for Boston. He had the definition of a “doesn’t show up in the box score” great hustle performance tonight.
The Celtics only had 3 turnovers tonight. That’s amazing. I’m not even sure how that’s possible.
The Gross:
I can’t stress enough how much of a pile of shit this game was. This was the prevailing sentiment tonight:
I can’t be positive but I’m pretty sure this is the worst game I’ve ever seen live.
— Paul Flannery (@Pflanns) March 5, 2015
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Evan Turner. That’s it.
Marcus Smart’s shooting is still enjoying an All Star break. He was 3-14 tonight, including 0-6 from 3. It’s not that he didn’t make plays. All things considered, that he was a -1 with his shooting shows how much of an impact he made in other places. But still. 3-14. Woof.
Kelly Olynyk’s return from injury was… well… 0-3 in 7 minutes, none which came in the second half. Not a great night.
If you’re counting, the Celtics have missed 3 dunks now over the past two games, with Jae Crowder and Tyler Zeller tonight joining Avery Bradley from last night.
The Greenlights:
The Game winner… of course
The Grid:
- 3 point fg%: Boston 29.6% (8-27), Utah 15.8% (3-19)
- Turnovers: Utah 18, Boston 3
- FT%: Boston 55% (11-20), Utah 61.9% (13-21)
- Bench scoring: Boston 48 – Utah 39
As long as Isaiah Thomas is on the bench, the bench unit is going to have some big scoring nights. And it also proves the old saying, it’s not who starts, but who finishes. Thomas and Crowder both played huge crunch time minutes, but both came off the bench.
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