POST GAME - JAZZ - HOME

STUDS & DUDS: JAE CROWDER’S LATE 3 DELIVERS CELTICS’ 11TH STRAIGHT HOME WIN

WEEI

By Josue Pavon

Jae Crowder (99) celebrates against the Jazz during the second half at TD Garden. (Mark L. Baer/USA Today Sports)

Just when you think they’re going to let one slip away, the Celtics keep on fighting. They fought from behind for nearly three whole quarters before finally pulling ahead of the Jazz in the fourth quarter en route to a 100-95 win at TD Garden.

The C’s used a 9-0 run in the final quarter to grab their first lead since the opening 12 minutes. Butler product Shelvin Mack’ 3-pointer with 49.5 seconds left put Utah back on top, 95-93, but Jae Crowder responded with the biggest shot of the night to recapture the lead for good. Avery Bradley’s three free throws and monster block of another Brad Stevens protege, Gordon Hayward, sealed the deal down the stretch.

After Utah grabbed a 13-point lead in the first half, the Celtics responded with an 11-0 second-quarter run. Second-round pick Jordan Mickey gave the C’s a spark off the bench, collecting three points, three rebounds and a pair of blocks in 7:07.

Still, the Jazz took a 46-43 lead into halftime and kept the Celtics at bay in the third quarter. It felt every time the C’s scored back-to-back shots, Utah immediately responded, holding tightly to a 73-72 advantage entering the final frame.

Jae Crowder scored a game-high 22 points, while Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas each added 18 points for the Celtics (36-25), who won an 11 straight home game for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Trey Lyles and Shelvin Mack each scored 18 to lead the Jazz. Derrick Favors (11 points, 16 rebounds) and Rudy Gobert (12 points, 12 rebounds) added double-double for the Jazz.


STUD OF THE NIGHT: Jae Crowder.

Crowder was the most consistent scorer for the Celtics — converting 7-of-12 shots (58.3 percent) — and he hit the biggest shot of the night in the final minute. In addition to his 22 points, he played his usual stout defense, adding a pair of steals and a block to tie Jordan Mickey with a game-high plus-seven rating.

DUD OF THE NIGHT: Gordon Hayward.

After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Hayward cooled off and finished the night with just 16 points on 6-of-20 shooting. He scored three points in the fourth quarter, missed a number of shots and had a potential go-ahead shot blocked by Avery Bradley with 20.9 seconds left.

VINE OF THE NIGHT:

WHINE OF THE NIGHT: Spacing on defense.

Utah did a great job of moving the ball on offense, which led to open looks for Hayward and Trey Lyles off the bench. At times, the Celtics collapsed on Derrick Favors or Rudy Gobert and gave Utah’s perimeter players open looks. In the second half, the C’s did a better job spacing out their defense. The Jazz weren’t getting the same open shots, as most of them were contested.  

STAT OF THE NIGHT: 25 fast-break points.

The Celtics entered Monday night’s game ranked sixth in the NBA in fast-break points (15.4). After the Jazz effectively slowed the game to their liking, the Celtics picked up the pace in the second half and finished the night with 25 fast-break points. The C’s also made big stops in the final minute to pull away with the win.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Celtics extra effort in closing seconds seals 100-95 win

CSNNE

JIMMY TOSCANO

BOSTON - How fitting for the Celtics that two plays - a block on one end and an offensive rebound on the other - sealed their win over the Jazz Monday night at the TD Garden.

The Celtics had scratched and clawed their way through 48 minutes of basketball - as did the Jazz - but it was those two extra effort plays in the final seconds that earned the Celtics a big 100-95 win over the Jazz.

Down two points after a Shelvin Mack three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in the game, Jae Crowder drained a three-pointer from the wing to put Boston up one point with 30 seconds remaining.

Out of a timeout, Gordon Hayward decided to take Avery Bradley one-on-one, hoping to back him down, create space, and hit the jumper. He did one of the three. Bradley got up on Hayward and put a clean block on his attempt. He'd end up with the ball and go to the line in hopes to put the C's up three points.

Bradley hit the first but missed the second . . . and in came Amir Johnson with the rebound off the miss, getting the ball back to Bradley where he'd be fouled.

This time, Bradley hit both and the Celtics took a four-point lead with 12 seconds to play.

That was all they needed.

Crowder led the Celtics with 22 points while Bradley and Isaiah Thomas each had 18 points. Tyler Zeller added 10 off the bench, eight in the second half.

Mack had 18 for the Jazz as did rookie Trey Lyles off the bench. Gordon Hayward scored 16 but on 6-for-20 shooting.

The C's took their first lead since the early stages of the first quarter when Evan Turner hit a cutting Zeller for a 77-76 lead with 10:18 remaining in the game.

They'd build it to five points, too. But the Jazz did not go down quietly, not after the lead they worked so hard to maintain through the first three-plus quarters.

Rodney Hood hit a three-pointer to cut it to two points, and after an Zeller dunk on a nice pass from Marcus Smart, Hayward answered with a jumper, and then Rudy Gobert hit two free throws to tie the game back up.

The teams would essentially exchange baskets the remainder of the fourth quarter.

Points were hard to come by for the C's early on in this one, as Boston had just 14 points with under three minutes to go in the first half. But Thomas hit three straight layups in the final 1:25 - including a spectacular alley-oop reverse layup - and Boston trailed 29-23 at the end of one quarter.

The Jazz opened up a 13-point lead in the early stages of the second quarter thanks in part to seven straight points by Lyles who scored seven straight points to open the second quarter.

But the C's would chip away after rookie Jordan Mickey was inserted into the game. In fact, Boston outscored Utah by seven points with Mickey in the game from 9:09 to 2:02, then trailing by our points when he was taken out for Amir Johnson.

Boston would go into half down 46-43 as Utah scored 30 points in the paint and 15 second chance points through two quarters, compared to the Celtics' 20 points in the paint and just three second chance points.

The game would remain close in the third quarter as Utah never led by more than six, and Boston cut it to one point in the final minute on two Zeller free throws.

112288

Stat of the night.  The team with no rim protection had 13 blocks.  The team with rim protection had 4.

beat

First of all, I want to say 'Amen' to beat's post.  A block at the rim is no more valuable than, say, a block from 10-12' on a jump shot.  Furthermore, steals and turnovers created might even be more valuable than a block since, unless you're the second coming of Bill Russell, the block is more than likely to go out of bounds, giving the ball back to them, while steals and a turnover created, by definition, gives the ball to us.  A steal or turnover is often a live one, meaning we not only get the ball, we get it running the other way.  And we are very good at creating steals, especially live ones, and running.

At the end, Brad went small.  Utah stayed big with Gobert and Favors.  We scored, they didn't, we won.

Brad played 10 men.  Mighty Mite Isaiah Thomas is the only one that did not register at least one block.  That means that 9 Celtics had more blocks than Rudy Gobert.

While it was quite lopsided early, we ended up with them having 46 points in the paint and we had 40.  That's not that big a difference.  Their front court didn't dominate us.  They looked good early on, but we adjusted.  That's why you play all 48.

Gobert and Favors had 28 rebounds between them.  They also were 8-23 for 23 points combined.  Gobert is DeAndre Jordan without the weight or strength.  On offense they are only good if you lob the ball into them at the front of the rim.  Last night Gobert hit his fritos, but he's 59% on the year.  There was a point where he had the ball out at the top of the key and he was on an island because nobody was within 10' of him because nobody respected his offense or ballhandling.  When Sully hit a few outside shots he didn't want to go out to him.  Sully took KG shots and Gobert wouldn't go out further than the frito line.  This is how stretch 4s and 5s have changed the game and players who are only comfortable in the paint are dinosaurs.  They started off the game strong though.  Then their fg% got worse than their teams, which ended up below 40%.  The Utah announcers said that one of Gobert's weaknesses that he needs to work on in the offseason is his hand strength.  According to them he gets stripped a lot because his hands and wrists aren't strong and he brings the ball down where other players can reach it.

Zeller missed some shots he should have made but he played well despite that.  2 blocks.  That's 2 more than Gobert.

Smart with some more of his muscle plays.  It's amazing how he just rips balls away.  He wasn't able to get it all the way away from Favors, who does have good hand strength, but he got a jump ball.  That's better than Favors with the ball in the low blocks.  He also ripped one away from "lady fingers" Gobert.

Jonas was tortured on defense all night by everybody, especially Trey Lyles, but hit a HUGE 3 late.

Bradley was awesome.  5 points in the last 1:42 and that unbelievable block on 6'8" Hayward with :20 left.  If that wasn't on Sportcenter then ESPN needs to rethink what is good.  Remember that block he had on DWade a few years ago from point blank?  This one was even better because the game was on the line and Hayward is much bigger and stronger than either 6'3" Wade or Bradley.

Sully struggled a bit, he rebounded well, but his sole block was on a Gobert layup with a minute left.

Rodney Hood was 4-17, but he's a damn good shooter and a lefty.  I wonder what Utah would want for him this offseason?

And last but not least, there's The Mouser.  They were killing us inside with lobs and penetrations (especially by Lyles) until he came in and then it just sorta stopped.  3 rebounds and 2 blocks in 7 minutes.  Welcome to the NBA, kid.






bob



.

Amazing game, might be the most entertaining game I've seen since the Bad Brad era started. Contrasting styles, they had bigger bigs, we were trying to run and had to hustle like crazy to stay in the game, ultimately the little guys us won and did it with DEFENSE!!! The little guys outdefended the bigger guys, both teams had moments of great D. Is it me or does our defense look better with IT on the bench? for that matter we might be on the verge of a strong lockdown defensive run with KO out and hopefully more minutes for the Mouse who in his minutes looked great paired with Sully, in other words he belonged, he can play, he can contribute.

Jae Crowder is a warrior, he always plays hard and physical, now hes blossoming as a shooter and scorer. Whenever Pierce had a bad game, the next game you knew he would be ready to give you the real goods. Previous game Crowder was 0-6 from 3, well he came ready to make amends, hit that big 3. What more can I say about Avery Bradley, you know I love great defense and loved watching Perk and KG rumble and carry us, now I'm loving watch AB and Smart defend and wreak havoc just as much. Sully also played some great D, as did Amir, if you look at Crowders winning 3, look whos pushing Gobert in the paint and in perfect position for an offensive board if the shot misses.

We had early trouble with their size, but we stayed with it, kept hounding their shooters on the perimeter and seized the game at the end.

Bob

By definition a STEAL has to be a live ball turnover otherwise it wouldn't be a steal. If you knock the ball off an opponent out of bounds you do get possession but it's not classified as a steal just a turnover.

And like you say, most steals do give you an advantage heading the other way too. And we are one of the best at stealing the ball. Matter fact we are #2 in the league at just over 9 steals per game. (Houston has just over 10)

We did not play great, but we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance. That is our benchmark so it seems. We never know who will make the big play or hit the big shot, and that's fine cause in the final couple minutes seems we had several players make the PLAYS. Wonder how many teams have as many different players that have led their team in scoring at one time or another this year? I would not be surprised that we might be leading in that stat too. Sure we need to get better but what we have is pretty darn good.

beat

cowens/oldschool wrote:Amazing game, might be the most entertaining game I've seen since the Bad Brad era started. Contrasting styles, they had bigger bigs, we were trying to run and had to hustle like crazy to stay in the game, ultimately the little guys us won and did it with DEFENSE!!! The little guys outdefended the bigger guys, both teams had moments of great D. Is it me or does our defense look better with IT on the bench? for that matter we might be on the verge of a strong lockdown defensive run with KO out and hopefully more minutes for the Mouse who in his minutes looked great paired with Sully, in other words he belonged, he can play, he can contribute.

Jae Crowder is a warrior, he always plays hard and physical, now hes blossoming as a shooter and scorer. Whenever Pierce had a bad game, the next game you knew he would be ready to give you the real goods. Previous game Crowder was 0-6 from 3, well he came ready to make amends, hit that big 3. What more can I say about Avery Bradley, you know I love great defense and loved watching Perk and KG rumble and carry us, now I'm loving watch AB and Smart defend and wreak havoc just as much. Sully also played some great D, as did Amir, if you look at Crowders winning 3, look whos pushing Gobert in the paint and in perfect position for an offensive board if the shot misses.

We had early trouble with their size, but we stayed with it, kept hounding their shooters on the perimeter and seized the game at the end.

Cow,

We had a top 3 defense when Kelly was playing.  Our defense was good last night but it has fallen off of late.  I know you want to say "that's despite Kelly and not because of him" but the facts are that we have been giving up fewer points all year with Kelly playing solid rotation minutes.  Bird wasn't a great man-to-man defender either, but he was All-Defense 2nd Team 2x anyway.

Here's some stats that show where Kelly fits in vs other centers in the league.

http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/oppshooting/?sort=Less%20Than%205%20ft.%20FG%20PCT&dir=-1


Notice, he is in the middle of the pack as far as fg% defending shots <5', ahead of Nerlens Noel, Okafur and Mozgov.  That means players who shoot against Kelly inside 5', at the rim, hit a lower percentage than they do against those guys.  That might not mean he is a better man-to-man defender than them, maybe he holds them off long enough for help to arrive, but that doesn't matter either.  We are in the tail end of the season and trying to score on Kelly inside is harder than it is against those guys however that is.  In the 5'-9' range Kelly is still stingier than Al Jefferson, Mozgov, Sully, Okafur and Whiteside.  Good defense isn't necessarily defined as blocking a shot.  He's averaging more steals/game than Towns, WCS, Gortat, Jordan, Whiteside and Okafur.  Stealing the ball is a defining defensive stat too, isn't it?  If you can stop the ball from going in the hoop because you steal it, that's a good thing too.  And, oh yeah, ALL of the players Kelly is ahead of in these defensive skills are playing more minutes than Kelly, so on a /minute basis he is much more effective than them.  Holistically the team did better, offensively and defensively, when Kelly was playing than since he has been out.  I know you don't want to admit that since it violates your idea of what a good defender should look like, but it's true.

We scored 100 points last night.  We have been one of the top scoring teams in the NBA all year.  That would be the part of the year Kelly played solid rotation minutes.

Yeah, we hounded their shooters at the end, but if their front court is SO much better than ours, why didn't they just dump it into Gobert or Favors?  Maybe because the age of mano-a-mano one-on-one defensive stands is gone?  Maybe this isn't the '80s, '90s and '00s anymore, where you would just give the ball to Jordan or Kobe and get out of the way?  Defensive schemes have become much more sophisticated and the players have become MUCH more mobile.  You could double Favors with another big, have him pass out and still have your doubling big get back to his man before damage was done.  

It's all about whether you help your team when you are on the floor more than you hurt it.  I'm not a big fan of the straight up +/- stat, but the bottom line is the same.  If you help more than you hurt, you are an asset.  Earlier this year our offensive/defensive differential, the number of points we scored on average minus the number of points we gave up on average, was one of the best in the league.  That is an indicator of how strong you are, as a team.  It says "when you win, you win big; and when you lose, you lose close", and that's why the differential is big.  GSW and SAS were better than us and that was about it.  That was with Kelly playing solid rotation minutes.  Our differential is a little lower now than it was at the All-Star game.



bob


.

So happy to read Mickey has arrived. I wonder how he's perform paired with KO?

Another game were Boston gutted it out to pull off a win.

The Celtics are still in need of a rim protector as last night's shot block total are not indicative of what this team can do night in and night out.

We need more reliable shooters (at least 2) You like the kid Hood? I do too but Danny liked Young more.

dboss

dboss wrote:Another game were Boston gutted it out to pull off a win.  

The Celtics are still in need of a rim protector as last night's shot block total are not indicative of what this team can do night in and night out.

We need more reliable shooters (at least 2)  You like the kid Hood?  I do too but Danny liked Young more.

dboss

dboss,

At this point in time, I'd say Danny was wrong.


bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Amazing game, might be the most entertaining game I've seen since the Bad Brad era started. Contrasting styles, they had bigger bigs, we were trying to run and had to hustle like crazy to stay in the game, ultimately the little guys us won and did it with DEFENSE!!! The little guys outdefended the bigger guys, both teams had moments of great D. Is it me or does our defense look better with IT on the bench? for that matter we might be on the verge of a strong lockdown defensive run with KO out and hopefully more minutes for the Mouse who in his minutes looked great paired with Sully, in other words he belonged, he can play, he can contribute.

Jae Crowder is a warrior, he always plays hard and physical, now hes blossoming as a shooter and scorer. Whenever Pierce had a bad game, the next game you knew he would be ready to give you the real goods. Previous game Crowder was 0-6 from 3, well he came ready to make amends, hit that big 3. What more can I say about Avery Bradley, you know I love great defense and loved watching Perk and KG rumble and carry us, now I'm loving watch AB and Smart defend and wreak havoc just as much. Sully also played some great D, as did Amir, if you look at Crowders winning 3, look whos pushing Gobert in the paint and in perfect position for an offensive board if the shot misses.

We had early trouble with their size, but we stayed with it, kept hounding their shooters on the perimeter and seized the game at the end.

Cow,

We had a top 3 defense when Kelly was playing.  Our defense was good last night but it has fallen off of late.  I know you want to say "that's despite Kelly and not because of him" but the facts are that we have been giving up fewer points all year with Kelly playing solid rotation minutes.  Bird wasn't a great man-to-man defender either, but he was All-Defense 2nd Team 2x anyway.

Here's some stats that show where Kelly fits in vs other centers in the league.

http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/oppshooting/?sort=Less%20Than%205%20ft.%20FG%20PCT&dir=-1


Notice, he is in the middle of the pack as far as fg% defending shots <5', ahead of Nerlens Noel, Okafur and Mozgov.  That means players who shoot against Kelly inside 5', at the rim, hit a lower percentage than they do against those guys.  That might not mean he is a better man-to-man defender than them, maybe he holds them off long enough for help to arrive, but that doesn't matter either.  We are in the tail end of the season and trying to score on Kelly inside is harder than it is against those guys however that is.  In the 5'-9' range Kelly is still stingier than Al Jefferson, Mozgov, Sully, Okafur and Whiteside.  Good defense isn't necessarily defined as blocking a shot.  He's averaging more steals/game than Towns, WCS, Gortat, Jordan, Whiteside and Okafur.  Stealing the ball is a defining defensive stat too, isn't it?  If you can stop the ball from going in the hoop because you steal it, that's a good thing too.  And, oh yeah, ALL of the players Kelly is ahead of in these defensive skills are playing more minutes than Kelly, so on a /minute basis he is much more effective than them.  Holistically the team did better, offensively and defensively, when Kelly was playing than since he has been out.  I know you don't want to admit that since it violates your idea of what a good defender should look like, but it's true.

We scored 100 points last night.  We have been one of the top scoring teams in the NBA all year.  That would be the part of the year Kelly played solid rotation minutes.

Yeah, we hounded their shooters at the end, but if their front court is SO much better than ours, why didn't they just dump it into Gobert or Favors?  Maybe because the age of mano-a-mano one-on-one defensive stands is gone?  Maybe this isn't the '80s, '90s and '00s anymore, where you would just give the ball to Jordan or Kobe and get out of the way?  Defensive schemes have become much more sophisticated and the players have become MUCH more mobile.  You could double Favors with another big, have him pass out and still have your doubling big get back to his man before damage was done.  

It's all about whether you help your team when you are on the floor more than you hurt it.  I'm not a big fan of the straight up +/- stat, but the bottom line is the same.  If you help more than you hurt, you are an asset.  Earlier this year our offensive/defensive differential, the number of points we scored on average minus the number of points we gave up on average, was one of the best in the league.  That is an indicator of how strong you are, as a team.  It says "when you win, you win big; and when you lose, you lose close", and that's why the differential is big.  GSW and SAS were better than us and that was about it.  That was with Kelly playing solid rotation minutes.  Our differential is a little lower now than it was at the All-Star game.



bob


.

this is why you can't rely on certain stats bob, who plays against the better players, the starters or the guys coming off the bench? which players take the toughest match ups? those type of factors can determine alot of stats especially all that gobbley gock you were quoting. I'm not knocking all stats, but to use the ones you did take no account of the players that take on the toughest match ups, like an AB or Smart or Sully. If KO had to take on all the big burly dudes that Sully REGULARLY takes on and wasn't constantly fed the weakest frontcourt player or second stringer, I don't think his defensive numbers would be quite as impressive cause I still see way too many times he looks like a complete ragdoll and mercifully Brad takes him out or puts him on the smaller easier match up. Sorry fock the stats, hes not as good a defender as Sully, Amir or Jerebko, Mickey has barely played and his defense is obviously much better and we don't need no stats to back that up. KO is not athletic, has no balance, gets pushed around WAY too easily, other than that, he has good hands and positions himself much better in rotations, but don't tell me your stats prove hes better or as good as.....cause his defense will never be good. This teams record is already better without him, I know I can't say that, too small a sample size. Well watch, this team is jelling right now and I don't think hes so ESSENTIAL that his loss is hurting us, Jerebko and Zeller can more than make up for him, even if they are not as good a 3 point shooter. Zeller has more variety of shots in close and runs the floor better, Jerebko's defense seems pretty timely and always helps us, he covers alot of floor and can cover alot of positions and we all want to see more of the uber athletic long armed Mouse.

Yes Cow, "we all want to see more of the uber athletic long armed Mouse"

careful worse someone might point out his stats aren't as good as Kelly's