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Tatum, Brown sizzle, Celtics roll to 125-97 win over Jazz

ESPN BOSTON
BOSTON -- — Jayson Tatum scored 11 of his 26 points during Boston's nearly perfect first quarter to help the Celtics roll to a 125-97 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.

Jaylen Brown also added 26 points and Marcus Smart finished with a career-high 13 assists as Boston recorded its fifth straight victory to improve its chances for one of the Eastern Conference's top four seeds.

Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points but Utah has lost consecutive games for the first time since the end of January, a span of 21 games.

Boston hit its first 10 shots of the game, including six 3-pointers, on the way to jumping out to a 28-12 lead. Its first miss didn't come until the 4:05 mark of the opening quarter when a layup by Brown rolled off the rim.

It was one of the few miscues for the Celtics, who ended the period with a 39-24 lead. They went 15 of 19 from the field, 7 of 9 from beyond the arc and held a 12-2 rebounding edge.

The lead grew as high as 30 in the second quarter and Boston took a 68-45 advantage into halftime. Smart ended the half with 10 assists in just 15 minutes of action.

The Jazz tried their best to keep pace, but simply couldn't get enough shots to fall. They particularly struggled from the outside, going 8 of 36 from the 3-point line. Utah also had only 13 assists on 35 made baskets.

Utah never got closer than 18 in the second half.

TIP-INS

Jazz: Had only seven assists on 17 field goals in the first half. … Udoka Azubuike (right ankle sprain), Bojan Bogdanovic (left calf sprain), Danuel House (left knee bruise) all sat out.

Celtics: It was the 18th consecutive game Tatum has scored at least 20 points. … Had 13 assists in the first quarter. …

UP NEXT

Jazz: Continue six-game road trip at Charlotte on Friday.

Celtics: Host Minnesota on Sunday.

112288

RWIII with 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks.
Smart with 13 assists.
Those are the most significant Celtic stats of the game, in my opinion.

37 ASSISTS

NYCelt wrote:RWIII with 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks.
Smart with 13 assists.
Those are the most significant Celtic stats of the game, in my opinion.

Smart looked smart at the point running the offense; and he put up all of 3 shots - another key stat in the story of Coach Udoka getting these guys to play as a team. Another hero, everything Al Horford. Very rare to have a big that can do everything on the floor ( just about-Al can no longer guard 1s as he’s lost half a step - but bball IQ, whew). The other key stat was both teams attempted 36 threes and the Celts made 11 more-that’s today’s NBA - Celts had spacing, time, better looks and therefore a lot of shots “from way downtown” tend to go in.  Coach Udoka post game spoke about losing last game to Jazz on them getting good looks on threes and closing down was an emphasis.

Ime Udoka has created a monster that is scaring the crap out of every other team in the NBA.  We aren't just beating teams, good and bad, we are destroying them.



And it's not like the Utah Jazz are a bunch of stiffs.  They had a better record than us coming into last night's game.  They have the number one offense in the league.  They have a league-leading 116.5 Offensive Rating.  Well, it was 116.5 before last night's game, this morning it's 116.1.  By comparison we're 11th at 112.5.  The #1 defense (105.8 DefRtg, GSW #2 with 106.2) and an offense that's just outside of the top 10 is a monster.  We just came back from a WC road trip, OKC played us hard enough that Ime had to keep our starters in longer than he probably would have liked, Utah had been in the East Coast since Saturday with games @ Knicks and Nyets.  So jet lag isn't an excuse.  To quote George S. Patton, in the past tense, we "held them by the nose and kicked them in the ass.  We kicked the Hell out of them all the time and we went through them like crap through a goose".

We started out 10-10, 8 assists, from the field.  I cannot remember ever seeing that happen.  They only had 2 rebounds in the first quarter, in part, because we shot 78%.  I'm not sure I've ever seen that before either.

Donavon Mitchell is an extremely crafty player.  He doesn't overpower you with athleticism but he gets you where he wants you.  QUITE the talent, I'm very impressed and enjoyed watching him work.  

The flip side of that is how much joy I get out of watching Jordan Clarkson go 4-12.  Remember when he was with the Lakers and thought he was the love child of MJ, because of his scoring, and The Worm because of his hair dye?  He thought he was going up for a dunk and got erased by Theis.  I wept tears of joy when he looked around like he couldn't believe it.

Jaylen played 32 minutes.  Horford and White played 31 each.  Nobody else over 30.  That's domination.

Jayson with 26 points in 29 minutes.  9-15, 5-8 from 3.  Thanks to the rampage he's been on his fg% is up to 44.9% and his 3pt fg%, which had been down around 33%, is now up to a more acceptable 35.4%.




Smart with a career high 13 assists.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Jaylen Brown on Marcus Smart at point guard: "Marcus has been running the show. We're trusting him to be the point person and he's made it easier for everybody. ... He's a big reason why our team has really turned it around."

Remember when Smart called out the Js for hogging the ball?  That was the beginning of the turnaround.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said he’s always been a point guard: “I’m finally in the right position.”


We had 10 blocks.  They had one, by one-trick pony Hassan Whiteside.  Last year's DPOY Rudy Gobert had none.  The Time Lord had 4.  RWill had 4X as many blocks as the entire Utah Jazz.  RWill needs 300 fgm, at his current fg%, to qualify for the highest fg% for a season in NBA history.  #1 is Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks and #2 is Wilt freaking Chamberlain.  He currently has 265 after last night, so he needs 35 more in our last 8 games.  Just under 4/game.  I think that would/should give him an edge in for the MIP Award.




Someone needs to throw some water on Pritchard, because he's unconscious.  He's shooting 54.5% from 3 in his last 10 games and is up to 41% on the season.  He shot 41.1% last season.  After an awful start because he wasn't getting steady minutes because Schroder was getting them he has reverted to his mean and he is a 40+% 3pt shooter.  Payton Pritchard is our X-Factor in the playoffs.  If he's still shooting like this he changes the game.  Even Grant Williams, who is still shooting 42.2% from 3 on the season despite his slump, is a game changer because he's been scouted as a shooter.  He's still 4th in the league in 3pt fg%, slump and all (Lonzo Ball is 42.3%, but he's injured and might not be back).

I absolutely LOVE Pritchard's offensive rebound and putback, with 3 Jazz players (Jordan Clarkson, Eric Paschall and Royce O'Neal.  ALL bigger than PP) there, at about the :40 mark of his highlight film.  Rebounding, especially offensive rebounding,has to do with positioning, with lower body strength and energy level but none of that is worth shite without ganas.  Our kid's got it.  I think he's either going to be part of a package for Donovan Mitchell or Bradley Beal, or he's going to be with us for a long while.  He's "got it".




37 assists on 50fgm.  That's 74%.  Not sure I've heard of that either.

Cowens said on the Game On! thread that he thinks we could play better.  How?  60% for the game, 53% from 3, 37 assists on 50fgm, our elite offensive opponents shoot 39.8% and 22%.  They had 21 ftas vs only 7 for us.  I'm not sure what we could have done better there, we had 56 points in the paint, the zebras weren't cooperating, but consider this anyway.  They had 14 more ftas than us and we still beat them by 28.  Remarkable!  12 turnovers vs 14 for them.  They had 13 assists on 35fgm, NOT good.  Their crappy fg% doesn't explain that since you can have a high assist-to-fgm ratio but still suck because you don't have a lot of fgm.  

John Karalis @John_Karalis
yesterday
Ime Udoka: "I think we all feel there's another level we can take it to being even more stingy on defense and everybody getting on board offensively."

Holy crap.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
8 hours ago
The Celtics now have a 45% chance to reach the Finals according to @FiveThirtyEight. The most likely NBA Finals matchups as of March 24.. Boston-Phoenix 18% Boston-Denver 10% Milwaukee-Phoenix 9% Boston-Memphis 6% Milwaukee-Denver 6% Miami-Phoenix 6% Phoenix-Philadelphia 4%



Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
Second time in three games the Celtics have recorded a season best shooting night.





Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 10 hours ago
The 2021-22 Celtics moved up four spots on this list Wednesday night. The five teams left above them either won 60 games, the NBA Championship...or both.




The Boston Celtics are now #1 in the Atlantic Division, marginally ahead of Philadelphia (Miami and Milwaukee aren't in the Atlantic Division).  We were 9 1/2 games out on December 30th.


This is what happens when interns do your graphics.





https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360906


Bob

.

The better they get the better they play.  Each game becomes another building block on top of another building block.  

The scale that we use to measure things is running out of notches.  Now I can see an underlying drive to achieve perfection.  No matter how well they play, they maintain an understanding that they have another level to reach.  This team is surrounded by an aura of positive energy.  That phenomena can only manifest itself when each and every player is connected.  That is why their defense appears to be so singular and their offense flows unabated.

Coach Udoka has put into place standards for excellence.

I'm beginning to sense something. No matter what happens this year in the playoffs, Ime and Brad are not building this group of players to be a year-end, year-out contender. They are putting together something that will fall between the modern-day 90's Bulls/GSW of the 2010's and the 50's-60's Celtics. Total dominance and an acceptance for nothing less. So if any other team has any desire to win the chip, this year may will be your last chance for quite some time. I don't see any other team in the league that is coming close to this type of excellence.

Just a hunch, IMHBAO.

db

Chris Forsberg
@ChrisForsberg_
“I just try to take pride in defense … I hear it all the time, like I can't defend or something. I got a chip on my shoulder in that aspect. I'm out to prove that I'm not somebody you can go at.“

Payton Pritchard on his Jordan Clarkson defense that had Marcus Smart fired up.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1507056752096862214


Bob
MY NOTE:  This is quite impressive defense against a bigger and more athletic Jordan Clarkson, and if your defense is firing up Marcus Smart you are definitely doing something right.

.

PP was great on defense last night. He may lack the size to defend in the post but his quickness to defend ball handlers in our switch everything defense looks really good.

bobheckler wrote:Ime Udoka has created a monster that is scaring the crap out of every other team in the NBA.  We aren't just beating teams, good and bad, we are destroying them.



And it's not like the Utah Jazz are a bunch of stiffs.  They had a better record than us coming into last night's game.  They have the number one offense in the league.  They have a league-leading 116.5 Offensive Rating.  Well, it was 116.5 before last night's game, this morning it's 116.1.  By comparison we're 11th at 112.5.  The #1 defense (105.8 DefRtg, GSW #2 with 106.2) and an offense that's just outside of the top 10 is a monster.  We just came back from a WC road trip, OKC played us hard enough that Ime had to keep our starters in longer than he probably would have liked, Utah had been in the East Coast since Saturday with games @ Knicks and Nyets.  So jet lag isn't an excuse.  To quote George S. Patton, in the past tense, we "held them by the nose and kicked them in the ass.  We kicked the Hell out of them all the time and we went through them like crap through a goose".

We started out 10-10, 8 assists, from the field.  I cannot remember ever seeing that happen.  They only had 2 rebounds in the first quarter, in part, because we shot 78%.  I'm not sure I've ever seen that before either.

Donavon Mitchell is an extremely crafty player.  He doesn't overpower you with athleticism but he gets you where he wants you.  QUITE the talent, I'm very impressed and enjoyed watching him work.  

The flip side of that is how much joy I get out of watching Jordan Clarkson go 4-12.  Remember when he was with the Lakers and thought he was the love child of MJ, because of his scoring, and The Worm because of his hair dye?  He thought he was going up for a dunk and got erased by Theis.  I wept tears of joy when he looked around like he couldn't believe it.

Jaylen played 32 minutes.  Horford and White played 31 each.  Nobody else over 30.  That's domination.

Jayson with 26 points in 29 minutes.  9-15, 5-8 from 3.  Thanks to the rampage he's been on his fg% is up to 44.9% and his 3pt fg%, which had been down around 33%, is now up to a more acceptable 35.4%.




Smart with a career high 13 assists.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Jaylen Brown on Marcus Smart at point guard: "Marcus has been running the show. We're trusting him to be the point person and he's made it easier for everybody. ... He's a big reason why our team has really turned it around."

Remember when Smart called out the Js for hogging the ball?  That was the beginning of the turnaround.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart said he’s always been a point guard: “I’m finally in the right position.”


We had 10 blocks.  They had one, by one-trick pony Hassan Whiteside.  Last year's DPOY Rudy Gobert had none.  The Time Lord had 4.  RWill had 4X as many blocks as the entire Utah Jazz.  RWill needs 300 fgm, at his current fg%, to qualify for the highest fg% for a season in NBA history.  #1 is Mitchell Robinson of the Knicks and #2 is Wilt freaking Chamberlain.  He currently has 265 after last night, so he needs 35 more in our last 8 games.  Just under 4/game.  I think that would/should give him an edge in for the MIP Award.




Someone needs to throw some water on Pritchard, because he's unconscious.  He's shooting 54.5% from 3 in his last 10 games and is up to 41% on the season.  He shot 41.1% last season.  After an awful start because he wasn't getting steady minutes because Schroder was getting them he has reverted to his mean and he is a 40+% 3pt shooter.  Payton Pritchard is our X-Factor in the playoffs.  If he's still shooting like this he changes the game.  Even Grant Williams, who is still shooting 42.2% from 3 on the season despite his slump, is a game changer because he's been scouted as a shooter.  He's still 4th in the league in 3pt fg%, slump and all (Lonzo Ball is 42.3%, but he's injured and might not be back).

I absolutely LOVE Pritchard's offensive rebound and putback, with 3 Jazz players (Jordan Clarkson, Eric Paschall and Royce O'Neal.  ALL bigger than PP) there, at about the :40 mark of his highlight film.  Rebounding, especially offensive rebounding,has to do with positioning, with lower body strength and energy level but none of that is worth shite without ganas.  Our kid's got it.  I think he's either going to be part of a package for Donovan Mitchell or Bradley Beal, or he's going to be with us for a long while.  He's "got it".




37 assists on 50fgm.  That's 74%.  Not sure I've heard of that either.

Cowens said on the Game On! thread that he thinks we could play better.  How?  60% for the game, 53% from 3, 37 assists on 50fgm, our elite offensive opponents shoot 39.8% and 22%.  They had 21 ftas vs only 7 for us.  I'm not sure what we could have done better there, we had 56 points in the paint, the zebras weren't cooperating, but consider this anyway.  They had 14 more ftas than us and we still beat them by 28.  Remarkable!  12 turnovers vs 14 for them.  They had 13 assists on 35fgm, NOT good.  Their crappy fg% doesn't explain that since you can have a high assist-to-fgm ratio but still suck because you don't have a lot of fgm.  

John Karalis @John_Karalis
yesterday
Ime Udoka: "I think we all feel there's another level we can take it to being even more stingy on defense and everybody getting on board offensively."

Holy crap.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
8 hours ago
The Celtics now have a 45% chance to reach the Finals according to @FiveThirtyEight. The most likely NBA Finals matchups as of March 24.. Boston-Phoenix 18% Boston-Denver 10% Milwaukee-Phoenix 9% Boston-Memphis 6% Milwaukee-Denver 6% Miami-Phoenix 6% Phoenix-Philadelphia 4%



Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
Second time in three games the Celtics have recorded a season best shooting night.





Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 10 hours ago
The 2021-22 Celtics moved up four spots on this list Wednesday night. The five teams left above them either won 60 games, the NBA Championship...or both.




The Boston Celtics are now #1 in the Atlantic Division, marginally ahead of Philadelphia (Miami and Milwaukee aren't in the Atlantic Division).  We were 9 1/2 games out on December 30th.


This is what happens when interns do your graphics.





https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360906


Bob

.

Speaking of Deuce, someone needs to tell him to keep his hands and feet to himself if he wants to continue to attend games.
He hit Smart in the Ass and kicked another player. Any other fan would've been tossed and banned. I say next time the lil Tyke puts his paws on someone officials should direct Pappy J to blow him a kiss goodbye and immediately remove Deuce from the premises.

dbrown4 wrote:I'm beginning to sense something.  No matter what happens this year in the playoffs, Ime and Brad are not building this group of players to be a year-end, year-out contender.  They are putting together something that will fall between the modern-day 90's Bulls/GSW of the 2010's and the 50's-60's Celtics.  Total dominance and an acceptance for nothing less.  So if any other team has any desire to win the chip, this year may will be your last chance for quite some time.  I don't see any other team in the league that is coming close to this type of excellence.    

Just a hunch, IMHBAO.  

db

Right on Dbrown. When Brad traded for White and Theis (and their reasonable contracts with many years left) at the beginning of this historic run the Celtics have been on, he must have seen that we were much closer than anyone thought at the time. This team is beautifully constructed for now and the next few years; everyone has a clear role, they are all buying into Ime's and Brad's vision, and other than Al they are all still young and improving and on decent contracts. It's weird still seeing all these articles where people suggest ways to get Beal or some other third star here when we are already a contender and such a well constructed team.

Shamrock1000 wrote:

dbrown4 wrote:I'm beginning to sense something.  No matter what happens this year in the playoffs, Ime and Brad are not building this group of players to be a year-end, year-out contender.  They are putting together something that will fall between the modern-day 90's Bulls/GSW of the 2010's and the 50's-60's Celtics.  Total dominance and an acceptance for nothing less.  So if any other team has any desire to win the chip, this year may will be your last chance for quite some time.  I don't see any other team in the league that is coming close to this type of excellence.    

Just a hunch, IMHBAO.  

db

Right on Dbrown. When Brad traded for White and Theis (and their reasonable contracts with many years left) at the beginning of this historic run the Celtics have been on, he must have seen that we were much closer than anyone thought at the time. This team is beautifully constructed for now and the next few years; everyone has a clear role, they are all buying into Ime's and Brad's vision, and other than Al they are all still young and improving and on decent contracts. It's weird still seeing all these articles where people suggest ways to get Beal or some other third star here when we are already a contender and such a well constructed team.

It wouldn’t hurt.

Yeah, I don't know if I'd upset the proverbial apple cart with a big trade over the summer unless our wheels come off in the first round. Best to let this all play out. Everyone is still trying to sweep us under the carpet. That's why I'm wanting BKN in the first round. Go ahead and take out the cancer first. Everybody can score in the playoffs. Don't care if you're KD, Kryrie, Giannis, Tatum, Embiid...doesn't matter. That's why the difference comes down to defense. BKN has ZERO. And the legs of Kryrie and KD will tire in a hurry chasing down fast breaks by Boston caused by us making them cough up the ball on offense. When that happens, good luck making ANYTHING. Everything will be front-rimming. It will come about mid-way through the 3rd quarter of each game and it will be over.

db