Boston Celtics

5 takeaways as Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz pull away from Celtics

The Celtics' offense didn't measure up against one of the NBA's best teams.

The Celtics took on the Jazz on Tuesday. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

By Tom Westerholm

3 minutes to read

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The Utah Jazz pulled away from the Celtics down the stretch on Tuesday, claiming a 117-109 victory to sweep the season series.

Here’s what happened.

The big picture

The Celtics stayed competitive throughout the game and had multiple chances to tie or take the lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Jazz had too much talent which executed too well in the second half.

Star of the game

Rudy Gobert: 16 points, 5-for-6 from the field, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks.

Gobert’s stat line (aside from blocked shots) was relatively pedestrian, but the Celtics looked terrified to drive against him. Here’s an example: Kemba Walker turned a defender out of position with his handle and created a lane to the basket that looked like this.

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Instead of driving to the rim and either scoring or collapsing the defense, Walker saw Gobert and instead tried to pass to Grant Williams on the other side of the floor. Williams, however, had started to cut, and Walker threw the ball away.

Gobert’s value is hard to fully quantify, but his defense kept the Celtics on their heels.

Why it matters

Nobody is going to panic after a loss to the Jazz, who are one of the NBA’s best teams, but the Celtics have now stayed close to two contenders — Brooklyn and Utah — since the All-Star break, and in both games, Brooklyn and Utah simply pulled away in business-like fashion down the stretch. The Celtics are now 1-2 since the break and are staring down an incredibly difficult stretch.

Takeaways

1.

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In the fourth quarter, the Celtics trimmed a nine-point Utah lead to one with five minutes remaining, grinding and grinding for baskets in the paint where they significantly outscored Utah.

Then with three minutes remaining, the Jazz buried two 3-pointers and immediately built the lead back out again. That was a big storyline in Tuesday’s game: The Celtics played solid two-way basketball, and the Jazz simply bombed away from 3-point range and made up the difference. That’s part of what makes the Jazz so tough: Their ball movement sets up 3-point shooting, which opens up the floor for Gobert pick-and-rolls. The symbiotic relationship between Utah’s players is fun to watch (but probably not much fun to play against).

“They’re one of the best that I’ve seen – and I said this before when we played them there – at making the right decision every time,” Brad Stevens said after the game. “As good as I’ve seen in the NBA in my time as far as a team goes at making that right decision.”

2. Down the stretch, the Celtics let Robert Williams play some key minutes, which was a new wrinkle. Williams has played very well recently, and he scored 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting on Tuesday while pulling down nine rebounds. It will be interesting to see if he continues to get crunch-time minutes, especially if Tristan Thompson misses some time in health and safety protocols.

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3. The difference between Utah’s depth and Boston’s was stark — the Jazz outscored the Celtics 45-21. Jordan Clarkson, who is a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate, dropped in 20 points while Bojan Bogdanovic scored 12. Meanwhile, Marcus Smart was way off — five points on 2-for-10 shooting. He was the Celtics’ high scorer in the second unit.

Expect the demands to intensify for Danny Ainge to find the starters some help in the second unit.

4. Semi Ojeleye was inserted into the starting lineup to replace Thompson, but he couldn’t find the range. Ojeleye played 19 minutes and finished with zero points without a field-goal attempt. He also committed a bad foul, closing out too close to Donovan Mitchell and giving the Jazz three shots and the ball on a flagrant foul call.

How the Celtics approach Thompson’s absence will be interesting, but Ojeleye can be a feast or famine option.

5. Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell are good friends, which made this interaction pretty funny.

For context: Brown had just dropped Mitchell to the floor with a dribble move when he reached out for the butt tap.

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