The Utah Jazz will look to avenge themselves against a tough Boston Celtics team tonight in the first game of a three-game home stand.
Although the sentiment surrounding tonight’s game against the Boston Celtics would be a lot brighter for the Utah Jazz if they were still riding high on a multiple-game winning streak and looking at a chance to finish the week undefeated, there’s no questioning that it’s still an important and highly anticipated contest.
Make no mistake about it, Thursday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks stung. It was one of Utah’s worst collapses of the season and a significantly blown opportunity if the team hopes to close the distance between themselves and the third place Houston Rockets.
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Nevertheless, with the Boston Celtics – the second best team in the Eastern Conference – coming into town tonight, the Utah Jazz have a chance to leave that defeat well behind them and bounce back in a big way.
The Celtics have turned it on of late going 15-5 over their last 20 games which included a seven-game winning streak at the end of January and start of February. Not to mention, one of those early January wins during that 20-game stint came against none other than the Utah Jazz.
In what was the second game of a tough East Coast road trip for the Jazz and the second night of a back-to-back, the Celtics proved too much and led nearly the entire way. Each time the Jazz looked like they were about to make a push, Boston continually found a way to answer back.
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It was one of many examples this season of the Jazz failing to step up against one of the league’s best. Prior to the recent win over the Hawks, Utah’s last win against a playoff team came on January 21st against the Indiana Pacers, so they’ll need to look to change that trend tonight.
If they do so, they’ll need to put together the kind of complete game we saw them post in the recent wins over Atlanta and New Orleans and play a much improved brand of basketball from both the second half in Thursday’s loss to Dallas and the earlier loss in Boston. Taking care of business in the following key areas will be crucial to ensure that they accomplish just that.