The Utah Jazz had a rough night on Friday. They fell to the Boston Celtics in a lop-sided affair with the Salt Lake City squad losing by 29 in a game marred by turnovers. The Celtics, easily one of the top teams in the NBA's Eastern Conference, if not the top team, defeated the Jazz 126-97 in a game that saw two converging storylines
For the Jazz, it was a game of lowlights, ironically highlighted by an emotionally and possibly physically draining game against the Detroit Pistons that went long into the night in one of the most exciting games of the season. A letdown was always possible, especially against a beast like the Celtics.
For the Celtics, they were coming off of a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder after stringing together six straight wins. Some of those wins, however, were against teams like the Pistons and Toronto Raptors, which were way too close for a team as good as the Celtics.
These two teams, on their own paths, were bound to collide and this was the result of that collision. And manifested itself in a total team collapse. The only player who didn't completely fall on his face was Lauri Markkanen, but that's not to say that he played well. He just didn't play as badly as his teammates.
Jordan Clarkson and John Collins got exploited all day on defense, and Clarkson would have just as rough of a day on offense, hitting one shot and turning the ball over four times. They weren't the only ones who looked bad, however, as the team collectively made just six threes. Six out of 34. A lot of people failed on Friday. And who can blame them, the Celtics are among the best teams in the East.
But that's sort of the point, however, right? If you want to compete for a playoff spot, you have to bring your best to the table. Now, losing to the Celtics in a lopsided affair doesn't mean that the Jazz are done or that they can't beat the Celtics if and when they face off next. The Jazz proved against the Mavericks that they can in fact beat good teams, especially teams that blew them out.
So the Celtics aren't unbeatable, they just happened to have more energy on Friday. It's fair to say that the Jazz were still recovering from that dramatic Pistons contest earlier in the week. So we'd like to see this matchup again in a few weeks. Say, March 12 when the two teams rematch in Utah?
The Jazz will have to rebound fast though after this loss, as the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Denver Nuggets are now on deck for the Jazz, and if the Jazz want to get back in the playoff race, they have to win at least two of the next three to avoid falling too far behind. It's possible, that this team has shown it can compete with the best in the NBA, let's just hope they realize fast that they can in fact hang with some of the best teams in the NBA.