Jazz Come Back Down to Earth After 97-126 Blowout vs. Celtics

The Utah Jazz suffered a brutal loss against the Boston Celtics on Friday night in TD Garden.

After rattling off six wins in their last seven games, the Utah Jazz could not get it done in the first leg of their road trip against the Boston Celtics, coming up short in an ugly 97-126 defeat to take them down to a 16-20 record on the regular season. It also marks their first loss of the year 2022.

This season, Utah has held to one common trend throughout the majority of their losses: when the Jazz lose, they lose big. Tonight’s game was no different.

Offensively, the Jazz struggled mightily, shooting 36.2% from the field and 17.6% from deep. It's a testament to Boston’s elite ability on the defensive end, but you simply can’t expect to find much success in the wins column when in that type of slump.

Through three the @utahjazz trail the @celtics 107-75.

Olynyk, Agbaji, Clarkson, and Dunn are a combined 3-18 from the floor.#takenote pic.twitter.com/j0aaOs0DGK

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 6, 2024

Lauri Markkanen led the way for Utah, scoring 17 points on 7/16 in just under 24 minutes played. Considering this game was out of reach early, Will Hardy decided to provide a bit of rest to this team’s starters ahead of their looming second leg of a back-to-back.

As for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum posted a stellar 30 points in just 24 minutes. He shot unreal splits of 50/62.5/92.9 in combination with his nine rebounds and five assists, also earning himself some rest in the wake of a blowout. Kristaps Porzingis also put up a solid performance with 19 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

Another notable setback for the Jazz tonight came from the difference in production from the free throw stripe. Utah made 23 of 34 attempts from the line tonight (67.6) compared to Boston’s 31 of 36 (86.1%), resulting in an extra eight points going the Celtics’ way. Tatum led the way, shooting 13-of-14 from the line, while Porzingis shot 10-of-12.

Utah also found some trouble with their ball control in this one, giving up 18 turnovers, which resulted in 26 points on the other end. While the Jazz have shown signs of improvement when it comes to taking care of the rock, a talented roster like Boston was one to expose those weaknesses once again.

Moving forward on this road trip, the tasks for this Jazz team will be finding their shot at a more efficient rate, while also managing to limit mistakes by controlling the ball better and fouling less.

The Jazz will have to make a quick turnaround on the road for their next matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers, scheduled to tip off Saturday night at 5:30 MT in Wells Fargo Center.

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