The Boston Celtics finished their four-game west coast road trip with a 114 – 103 win over the Utah Jazz despite a massive game from guard Donovan Mitchell.
Much of Mitchell and the Jazz’ problem came in the form of another monster game from budding Boston superstar Jayson Tatum, who had his third 30-point game in a row.
Boston came out strong, and led for most of the first quarter, only falling behind in the second when Mitchell began to catch fire. Tatum would answer back to send the Celtics into the break up 53-51.
The Duke product’s strong play would continue into the penultimate frame until teammate Jaylen Brown began to warm up midway through the third quarter.
The final frame saw center Enes Kanter and reserve guard Brad Wanamaker deliver some key offense off the bench to help their teammates open up as much as a 14-point lead to close the game out.
A late trey from point guard Mike Conley staved off a blowout for the Jazz, who lost 114-103 for their fourth defeat in as many games.
Mitchell’s 37 points on 15-of-32 shooting and 5 rebounds were not enough to secure the win for Utah, with only teammates Mike Conley (15 points) and Royce O’Neal (14 points) scoring in double figures.
Boston was led by Tatum’s 33-point, 11-rebound performance in which he continued to be hyper-efficient, connecting on 13-of-20 attempts on the evening. Brown added 20 points on a similarly efficient 8-of-16 effort with 6 rebounds for good measure.
Guard Marcus Smart — starting in place of resting point guard Kemba Walker — logged 17 points and 9 assists, and center Daniel Theis added 16 points and 7 boards as well.
With the win, Boston now finds itself just one game behind the Toronto Raptors in the race for the East’s second seed, with the Miami Heat a distant five games behind in fourth place.
The Boston Celtics next face the Houston Rockets in a revenge match for the Feb. 12th road loss to the team’s ultra-small lineup. They’ll meet at TD Garden this time, with tip-off at 8:30pm ET on Feb. 29th.
