5 topics as Jazz wins duel against Jaylen Brown and the Celtics

COMMENT

The Boston Celtics ended their long journey across the West Coast with a 122-108 loss to a Utah Jazz team, who appear to be a real contender.

Five topics for the Celtics to (finally) turn their attention home.

The Celtics looked tired and Jazz looked better.

To be fair to the Celtics, travel across the west coast is exhausting, and finishing a long against perhaps the best team in the league at the moment is a difficult task.

That said, Jazz was simply better and probably would have been better even if the Celtics opened their trip to Salt Lake City. The ball spun and, even when the shots were not falling, the Utah attack created looks that looked sustainable. Jazz’s defense, as expected, channeled Boston directly to Rudy Gobert, and the Boston shots around the edge were all an adventure with Gobert in the painting. Donovan Mitchell eliminated incompatibilities in the third quarter, helping Jazz to build double-digit leadership.

“You can’t make mistakes against these guys,” said Brad Stevens. “They are exceptionally well oiled in attack. Just a special team to compete, and when you make a mistake, they make you pay. “

Jazz has all the pieces – a young superstar in Donovan Mitchell, good defense and a ton of shots. Brad Stevens compared them to the 2014 San Antonio Spurs and, after a closer look, this statement is valid.

The Celtics’ defensive strategy was quite solid.

At the start of the game, the Celtics made it clear that they planned to change everything (except for a few stretches in the zone). Sometimes Jazz (almost entirely Mitchell) punished them, but the move helped keep Jazz away from the 3-point line for much of the game. Jazz loves to put teams in rotation, swinging the ball around the court, and Boston tried to get that element out of the game.

Utah, who scored 74 points in the second half, is a difficult team to defend. Small breakdowns against a team with so many shots and moves are amplified. In Tuesday’s hectic game, Utah’s attack had a lot of juice.

“They seem to be playing the best basketball at the moment,” said Jayson Tatum. “The guys over there are playing well and are just clicking. They are playing very well together. “

Daniel Theis is extremely hot in the 3 point range.

In December, Theis shot 2 out of 13 out of three. He has since been 21 of 36 deep – 58 percent – after shooting 5 of 6 at Utah. Jazz was willing to give Theis pick-and-pop 3 points, and Theis made them pay until he failed out of the game in the fourth period.

Theis always had the potential to be a good sniper. At a time when reporters were able to enter the Celtics’ training facilities, Theis could be seen playing consistently deep triples. Clearly, he will not continue shooting at nearly 60 percent, but if Theis forces teams to respect his range, he adds a lot of value to Boston slashers.

Jaylen Brown really did look totally healthy.

Before the game, Brad Stevens said Brown – who played two consecutive games with a sore knee – returned with full force and appeared to be in play on Tuesday: 33 points out of 12 out of 20 shots. Brown started the game with three consecutive triples and kept the Celtics in the game when Utah threatened to pull away. Having a few free games may have helped to save your legs a little, as a long journey has begun.

Brown told reporters after the game that he had a brief knee fight in the third quarter, but that he felt significantly better after dealing with pain for a few weeks.

Kemba Walker’s struggles continued.

At some point, watching Walker’s struggles repeatedly seems to be messing with him, but his importance to this team cannot be overstated.

That is why it is so worrisome for Boston that Walker simply couldn’t find his reach for much of that trip, and he didn’t seem to be getting much breakup against Utah. Walker submitted 2 to 12 on the ground and 1 to 4 in the depths, posting just seven points. After Tuesday’s 1 to 8 performance within the arc, it dropped to 33.3 percent by 2 points.

We will keep saying: there is still time. Brad Stevens still expresses confidence in Walker. But the concerns are certainly real.

“We need to find ways to do a better job as a team to help him,” said Stevens. “We will certainly continue, because he has struggled to shoot in the last two games, but he is doing many other things. He’s a big part of us, if we want to be what we want to be. I really believe that he will be that guy. “