Jaylen Brown returned to the lineup Tuesday night and had 33 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Utah Jazz scored 74 second half points and defeated the Boston Celtics 122-108 at Vivant Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah for their fifth straight victory.
Boston (12-11) who finishes off a 2-3 West Coast trip, led a majority of the first half by as many as eight points. Utah rallied and took their largest lead of the first 24 minutes of six in the second quarter, taking a 48-47 lead into halftime. A 42 point third quarter allowed the Jazz to take as much as a 14 point advantage. The Celtics did get within four on three different occasions in the fourth, but never got any closer as the top team in the Western Conference improved to 20-5 overall and 9-2 at home.
Brown added eight rebounds to his point total in the return to the lineup in the loss. Jayson Tatum had 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Daniel Theis was the only other double digit scorer for the Celtics with 15 points and four boards. The green finish the road trip with wins over the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers and losses to the Kings, Suns, and the Jazz. Donovan Mitchell had a game high 36 points, and also added four rebounds and nine assists in the Utah win. Joe Ingles had 24 points and six assists, while Rudy Gobert had a double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds as the Jazz put a total five players in double figures. Boston returns home to host the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden on Thursday night.
