Victory is sweet! Ingles, Crowder come up big in Utah Jazz win over Hayward, Celtics

Joe Ingles and Jae Crowder had huge games to lift the Utah Jazz over the Boston Celtics in Gordon Hayward’s return to Salt Lake City.

Man, sometimes earning a victory just feels so dang good! Friday night’s battle between the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics was one such example. In Gordon Hayward‘s long-awaited return to Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz earned a much-needed and big-time win, defeating the former Jazz All-Star’s team by a score of 123-115.

Not only was this Utah’s first home win this year against a definite playoff-caliber opponent and a victory that got them back to .500 on the young season, but coming out on top against Hayward was a vindicating and joyful feeling.

The entire Jazz fanbase most certainly had this game circled on the calendar as one they wanted their team to win as a slap to the face to the player that opted to depart from the Jazz in free agency two summers ago. And the former teammates that he spurned definitely had their reasons for wanting to show out as well.

But two players in particular may have had the most reason to want to come up big – Joe Ingles and Jae Crowder. Ingles was always touted as Hayward’s closest friend when the two played together for the Jazz. The fact that Gordon left him as much in the dark as anyone while drawing out his free agency decision, then ultimately departed from the team had to hurt.

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Meanwhile, though Crowder never played alongside Hayward, he certainly had significant reason to seek revenge on both him and the Celtics team that dealt him away. The last time Gordon Hayward played in Boston as a Jazzman, fans were chanting his name as a recruitment tactic and a not-so-subtle jab at Crowder who would hypothetically be replaced by Hayward.

Once Hayward was brought onto the Celtics roster, Boston then traded Jae Crowder away in the deal that landed Kyrie Irving. Between the organization viewing him as expendable, and the fanbase wanting Hayward rather than Crowder, Jae had every right to carry a big chip on his shoulder in this game.

And guess what? In true storybook fashion, both Crowder and Ingles had monumental games and were largely responsible for the Jazz victory.

Ingles’ red hot shooting touch was fully intact as he burned the nets to the tune of 10-of-14 from the field and 5-of-9 from deep to finish with a game-high 27 points, which was tied for his career high. He also further stuffed the stat sheet by adding five rebounds and seven assists to go along with a plus/minus of plus-23.

Meanwhile, Crowder was 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-9 from deep while adding six rebounds and four assists. He had several key plays down the stretch that helped Utah seal the victory. Both Crowder and Ingles enjoyed some sweet, sweet vindication in the battle to defeat Hayward and the Celtics.

But they were far from the only two who played well. Though Crowder was the main producer among the reserves, posting 20 of Utah’s 27 bench points, all of Utah’s starters were significant. Rudy Gobert was a menace on both ends of the floor, particularly defensively where he flustered the Celtics all game long. A pair of forced Jayson Tatum misses at the rim late in the game especially stand out.

The Stifle Tower finished the contest with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while adding 15 rebounds and two blocks as well as a game-high plus/minus of plus-26. Donovan Mitchell struggled to find his shot, but still finished with 21 points and did an excellent job of getting to the line. Not only that, but he put in a floater over Hayward that was one of the absolute highlights of the evening.

Despite a poor start and yet another poor outing from the perimeter (1-of-5 from 3-point land), Ricky Rubio actually put together a nice game, finishing with 17 points on 53.8 percent shooting and adding six rebounds and seven assists. Last of all was the unsung hero Derrick Favors. He had a crucial 14 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting as well as six rebounds, four of which were key offensive boards for the Jazz.

In all, it was an exhilarating performance from the main Jazz rotation that led to the impeccable win.

On the flip side, Gordon Hayward struggled in his return to Salt Lake for the most part as he continues to work his way back to his former explosiveness and athleticism. He logged 25 minutes, the fewest of any Celtics starter, and finished with 13 points on inefficient clips of 3-of-9 from the field and 1-of-5 from deep. He did dish out seven assists, though, which were an encouraging sign for him of his playmaking ability with his new teammates.

The C’s benefited from stellar play from Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier, who had 21 and 22 points, respectively, on efficient shooting marks. Meanwhile, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris were key off the bench as well, but ultimately the team fell short.

The Jazz built a huge lead in the third quarter that grew to as much as 20 before a bit of complacency took hold and saw their lead dwindle to as low as four points on multiple occasions in the fourth. This is the second straight game where the Jazz letting their foot off the gas has cost them, and such is an alarming trend they’ll need to fix.

Of course, they were able to bounce back both times and hold off a daunting opponent in the Celtics on Friday, but the Jazz can still be much better, and will need to be as they aim to continue to ascend the ranks of the elite in the Western Conference.

As exciting as the win over Hayward and the Celtics was, it was actually good to just put it behind us. Hopefully the team got some confidence from the big-time bout and also learned from some of their errors and can aim for a successful road trip ahead. The Jazz’s next five games will be away from home, with four of those contests coming against staunch opponents including the Memphis Grizzlies, who have already defeated the Jazz twice, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Boston Celtics (again) and the Indiana Pacers.

Ideally, the victory over the Celtics will help them get their mojo back and begin rolling as they continue forward this season. Friday was a crucial and exciting win, but toppling Hayward in his return to Salt Lake City will hopefully end up as little more than icing on a spectacular and successful 2018-19 season.