The Boston Celtics continue to be massively shorthanded, playing without Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris and, as they have all season, Gordon Hayward. Despite being without those key players, they still managed to go into Utah on Wednesday night and stun the Jazz with a 97-94 win.
The result was surprising for a few reasons, namely how important this game was for the Jazz as they try to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race. Boston’s star on the night was second-year wing Jaylen Brown, who led all scorers with 21 points along with five rebounds and three assists.
Brown’s final three points gave the Celtics the win after Brad Stevens drew up quite the play out of a timeout with just under 15 seconds remaining. Boston whipped the ball around, causing the Utah defense (which is among the NBA’s best) to scramble out to shooters before the ball got to Brown as he stepped back behind the line at the top of the key to drill the game-winner.
🗣 CLUTCH JAYLEN BROWN https://t.co/Cyt37bsDKt
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) March 29, 2018
The win keeps Boston’s ever-so-slim hopes of earning the top seed in the East alive, although that seems highly unlikely. It does, however, all but assure them the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference after sweeping their four-game West Coast road trip.
Utah, meanwhile, slips into the eighth seed in the West, 0.5 games behind Minnesota and 1.5 games up on the Clippers who occupy the ninth spot. In a playoff race as tight as that out West, this was the type of game Utah definitely needed to win.
