Despite injury, the Boston Celtics pulled another one off Wednesday night to finish off a four game road trip a perfect 4-0 with a fourth quarter comeback win over the Utah Jazz 97-94 at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Boston (52-23) had trailed by six at the end of the opening quarter, before outscoring Utah 30-15 in the second to take a 48-39 halftime lead. The Jazz though put together a solid third quarter, outscoring the Celts 32-19 to take a 71-67 lead to the final 12 minutes. Boston trailed by as many as eight in the final quarter, but rallied back and tied it on a Jayson Tatum slam dunk with 34 seconds left to make it 94-94. After a Utah miss, the Celtics grabbed the rebound and called timeout with nine seconds left. Jaylen Brown provided the dramatics with his step away three pointer with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock. A last shot by the Jazz was off the mark as the Celtics made it five wins in a row. Boston ended the game on a 9-0 run.
Boston, who was without both Al Horford and Marcus Morris to go along with Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart, was led by Brown who finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Tatum had 16 points. Aron Baynes had 13 points, and six rebounds. Terry Rozier also had 13 points, seven rebounds, and three assists (including 3-4 from three point land in fourth quarter). Shane Larkin also added 10 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. The Celtics return home to host Toronto Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
Donovan Mitchell led Utah (42-33) with 22 points and six assists. Former Celtic Jae Crowder came off the bench to score 16 points and pull down four rebounds. Ricky Rubio just missed a triple double, with 14 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists. Joe Ingles had 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Rudy Gobert added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
