SALT LAKE CITY—With the Celtics all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they have often been asked what they hope to accomplish over the final few weeks of the regular season.
And there are goals, such as rest and experiments and whatever, but above all else, the players and coaches have made it clear that they mostly want to just keep winning. They have done a pretty good job of that, and the trend continued Friday by starting this six-game road trip with a comfortable 121-99 victory over the Jazz, their fourth in a row.
“I appreciate the guys’ competitive nature and them wanting to win,” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “At the end of the day that’s the goal, is to win. But it’s how you do it.”
In this case, the Celtics did it with defense and by revving up their intensity when that was required. Boston held the Jazz below the 25-point mark in three quarters and registered 13 steals. And after Utah whittled what once was a 17-point deficit to 2 early in the third quarter, Mazzulla called timeout and the Celtics returned to the floor and forced four turnovers over the next five possessions to spark their game-defining 13-0 run.
“Our guards and Luke [Kornet] did a good job of picking up the intensity defensively,” center Kristaps Porzingis said. “We were kind of going through the motions a bit for a while.”
During this four-game run, the impossible has quietly been upgraded to improbable. The Cavaliers, who spent most of this season on a historic 70-win pace, on Friday lost their fourth game in a row. Just over a week ago the Celtics trailed the Cavs by nine games, and how the gap is just five.
With just 12 games remaining, it would take a monumental collapse by the Cavs for the Celtics to truly make this interesting. And the truth is the Celtics are now 27-7 on the road and 24-12 at home, so homecourt advantage in a potential conference finals matchup might not even matter. But it’s at least something to think about, even if the Celtics will continue to experiment a bit over the next three weeks.
“We’re working on different things obviously in this stretch, kind of have second-place locked in,” guard Payton Pritchard said. “So it’s a good time to tighten some things up in certain areas and keep sharpening.”
Porzingis had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists to lead the Celtics on Friday, and Jayson Tatum added 26 points. Jaylen Brown missed his second consecutive game due to a bone bruise on his right knee, and he has already been ruled out for Sunday’s matchup against the Trail Blazers, too.
The Celtics registered 33 second-chance points and forced 17 turnovers, helping them offset Collin Sexton’s 30-point night for Utah.
“Sexton played great,” Mazzulla said. “They got off to a really good start in the third quarter. I just thought we needed to take it to another level, and credit to the guys, they took it to another level. We got some live-ball turnovers, got out in transition, got some stops, and I thought each guy was good throughout most of the game with just their activity and making plays for each other on both ends.”
Sexton’s third 3-pointer of the third period pulled the Jazz within 69-65. Porzingis went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 6:48 left, and a Keyonte George 3-pointer on the ensuing possession made it 71-69.
Mazzulla called timeout, and the Celtics returned to the court with a different level of defensive urgency. Jrue Holiday had two steals, Derrick White added one, and the Celtics’ stabilizing 13-0 run included a pair of Sam Hauser 3-pointers.
Utah was lingering early in the fourth when Pritchard scored eight points over a 75-second span to stretch the lead to 105-87 and all but put away the Jazz.
“It was good to see some go in because the first half I was like, what, 1-6?” said Pritchard, who had 18 points. “I missed a lot of shots I probably should have had. But it’s a full game and kind of take a deep breath and come out and shoot those shots with confidence. Once I see one go in, I can hit a lot.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
