Utah Jazz survive Boston Celtics with three-point barrage

When everything is clicking for this Utah Jazz club, an opposing team’s margin for error is so slim that it’s imperceivable. The Boston Celtics played 48 minutes of quality basketball in last night’s 137-130 loss: the Jazz were simply better.

Credit the C’s for resilience. The Jazz stormed ahead to an 11-2 lead early in this contest, and it appeared as though they smelled blood. The Celtics refused to quit, and they executed consistently throughout the game. A large indication of their quality play was their advantage in the turnover battle, committing a mere 6 miscues compared to the Jazz’s 19.

They were impressive. They simply weren’t impressive enough. The Jazz executed their gameplan to similar perfection. Either it’s a better gameplan, or they’re just a better team.

Utah Jazz can’t miss from three-point range

The Jazz made a season high 27 three-pointers in this contest, and they didn’t even do it by chucking up attempts with reckless abandon. They were good for 27/51 (52.9%) accuracy in this contest.

It’s a standard colloquialism to say a team or player “can’t miss” in basketball, but for Mike Conley last night, it was literally true from three-point range. He went 7/7 for the Utah Jazz. The majority of those threes came unassisted, and were often heavily contested. The Celtics tried just about everything against Conley, including having big man Al Horford close out on a couple of attempts. They found nylon anyway.

One thing the Celtics could have done was assign world-class defender Marcus Smart to Conley on a more consistent basis, but he had his hands full with Donovan Mitchell. Unfortunately for the C’s, there was little Smart could do about the brightest Utah Jazz star either. Spida finished this contest with 34 points shooting 6/14 of his three-point attempts.

Overall, that’s a 13/21 clip from the starting backcourt for the Utah Jazz. That’s almost impossible to beat. Factor in Joe Ingles’ 3/5 shooting, Royce O’Neale’s 2/2 clip and Bojan Bogdanovic shooting 4/7, and it didn’t even matter that Jordan Clarkson managed a mediocre 3/9 performance.

Utah Jazz deliver when it counts

In spite of their remarkable accuracy from long range, the Jazz didn’t get an easy W against the Celtics. Jayson Tatum hit a jumper off a great pass from Horford to bring the score to 127-125 with only a 1:16 remaining. The Utah Jazz chose that moment to explode.

Mike Conley hit a three on the next possession, Donovan Mitchell hit another after a pair of Jayson Tatum free throws, and the 3 > 2 equation that revolutionized basketball was proven true once again. At 133-127 with 28 seconds remaining, the Jazz evidently had the game locked up.

Utah Jazz welcome back key starter

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this win for Utah Jazz fans is that, as it turns out, Joe Ingles’ insertion into the starting lineup in Royce O’Neale’s brief absence may not have been the explanation for their recent offensive explosion. They scored their season high last night with O’Neale picking right up where he’d left off.

The defensive minded wing finished this game with 12 points on 4/4 shooting from the field, 2/2 shooting from three-point range, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. O’Neale’s stroke may not be as sweet as Ingles’, but his shot selection is on par, and his superior defensive ability makes him an advantage in the starting lineup.

Not that it necessarily showed in a 137-130 barnburner. Nonetheless, O’Neale’s activity was, as usual, key to Quin Snyder’s defensive scheme. If he’d stayed on the shelf, the Celtics may have scored even more.

The Utah Jazz improved to 15-7 in this contest. They’re starting to knock on the doors of the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns. Hopefully, they continue their winning ways against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.