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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah fans made the Celtics pay on Friday during Boston’s 121-99 win over the Jazz.
Well, they made Celtics fans pay at least.
For much of the season, the Jazz have had truly surprising support for a team more than happy to be at the bottom of the standings. Save for a few games, the Delta Center has been filled with purple-wearing (or black- or yellow- or blue-wearing) supporters rooting on a team in a race to the bottom.
“I’ve always bragged about our fans,” Walker Kessler said earlier this season. “I think we have the best fan base in the league. The fact that we’re going through this time right now and still getting all those fans, it’s just incredible, no question. The energy is there, they show up every night — win, lose, no matter how much we’re down by — I’m very, very appreciative.”
One of the reasons for that? The secondary ticket market.
Fans have been able to get into most games this season for less than $10. It was different, though, on Friday.
The cheapest seat an hour before the game was around $40 — and that was high in the upper bowl. Based on the amount of Celtic green in the crowd, it was mostly Boston fans who paid for those prices.
So, at least, the hometown fans turned a small profit on Utah’s latest loss. So, silver lining?
“When they ran out it felt like an away game,” Jazz guard Brice Sensabaugh said. “It kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I love playing the Celtics. I like the way they play; they’re my favorite team to watch.”
He’s clearly not alone in that sentiment.
And those Celtics fans got their money’s worth on Friday.
Kristaps Porzingis had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum added 26 to lead Boston to a win that was a bit tighter than the scoreboard indicated.
Boston jumped out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter before Utah cut it to 2 in the third quarter.
“I think the team hung in and competed for a majority of the game,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We were able to cut the lead there in the second half, which I was proud of.”
That was mostly due to Collin Sexton, who scored a game-high 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting. Oh, and he got into a little shoving match in the fourth quarter with Porzingis, jumping in to defend Keyonte George.
“That’s just Collin,” Hardy said. “I think having teammates come together in those chippy moments is always a good sign. We’ve talked a lot about our team camaraderie this year, and I think it’s incredibly high. I wasn’t shocked to see multiple players go to Keyonte’s defense. I certainly wasn’t shocked to see Collin be the first one in there.”
Sexton mostly shrugged off the incident following the game, stating that Porzingis was “my guy” but he just wanted to stand up for his teammate.
“It’s a battle,” he said. “So nothing there.”
There always seems to be something there for Sexton. How the 26-year-old guard has approached the season has impressed Hardy. It hasn’t mattered what the score is or where the Jazz are in the standings, Sexton has managed to bring the same level of energy for most games.
“Collin has shown a ton of character this year,” Hardy said. “His intensity on the floor in the games is very visible to anybody that’s watching, but what you don’t get to see is how his character shows every single day that he’s at the practice facility. Collin’s fighting hard every single day and he doesn’t take one moment of this for granted.”
