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Utah Jazz (7-8) at Boston Celtics (9-6)
Saturday, November 17, 2018
7:30 PM EST
Regular Season Game #16 Home Game #7
TV: NBATV, NBCSB, ATT Sportsnet, NBA-LP 759(DTV)/755(xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 97.5 FM
TD GardenProbable StartersPG
SG
SF
PF
C
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Gordon Hayward
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Al Horford
Celtics ReservesTerry Rozier
Marcus Morris
Marcus Smart
Aron Baynes
Semi Ojeleye
Daniel Theis
Guerschon Yabusele
Brad Wanamaker
Robert Williams
InjuriesJabari Bird
Two Way PlayersWalt Lemon, Jr.
P. J. Dozier
Head CoachBrad Stevens
Probable Starters PG
SG
SF
PF
C
PG: Ricky Rubio
SG: Donovan Mitchell
SF: Joe Ingles
PF: Derrick Favors
C: Rudy Gobert
Jazz Reserves Tony Bradley
Alec Burks
Dante Exum
Jae Crowder
Royce O'Neal
Thabo Sefolosha
Ekpe Udoh
Grayson Allen
Georges Niang
Injuries Raul Neto
Two Way PlayersTyler Cananaugh
Naz Mitrou-Long
Head Coach Quin Snyder
Game Notes The Celtics take on the Jazz for the last of their two games this year and seek to enact vengence after the Jazz beat Boston in the first game between the teams 123-115. Both teams are playing the back end of back to back games. Boston is fortunate enough to get their two games of the back to back at home while Utah had both games of their back to back on the road. Boston is coming off an impressive 123-116 OT win against Atlantic Division rivals the Toronto Raptors and have won their last three straight games. Utah traveled to Boston after losing in Philadelphia to the 76ers, 113-107. The Jazz have lost their last two games and this will be their 4th game on a 5 game road trip.
In the last game between the two teams, Boston was in an almost exact situation as Utah is now as they were playing on the back end of a back to back in the 4th game of a 5 game road trip. And Boston looked like the trip was taking it's toll on the team. Utah dominated in just about every facet of the game and led by 20 points in the third and cruised through most of the 2nd half with a double digits lead. Utah dominated in the paint having a +21 rebound advantage over Boston and going inside to Gobert and Favors early and scored 50 points in the paint. And when Utah kicked it out Joe Ingles, he hit often from three point range in tying his season high with 27 points. Jae Crowder was also happy to show up his former team putting up 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists having his best all around game of the season. Utah had 6 players in double digits including all 5 starters. Boston was without Kyrie Irving and even though Terry Rozier started and had his best game of the year putting up a team high 22 points, it wasn't enough to make up for the loss of Kyrie and poor shooting nights from Hayward and Brown. Jaylen Brown had an especially poor game going 4-17.
This is going to be an interesting game for Brad Stevens as the Celtics were exposed on the road trip with a few of the teams pounding the ball inside to their large centers and power forwards for easy baskets and Boston had no answer for it. Denver, Portland and Utah all beat the Celtics decisively on the boards with Portland and Utah just dominating the points in the paint. Will Stevens play Around Baynes big minutes to offset Gobert's size and strength advantage over Al Horford? Gobert is the most efficient big man in the league and limiting his touches in the paint and keeping him off the offensive boards will be a key to this game. The Jazz also has a balanced attack relying on their starters and Crowder for most of their offensive production though, Utah usually goes as far as their stellar 2nd year guard, Donovan Mitchell will take them. Containing Donovan or at least making him shoot bad shots will be one of the more important things for the Celtics. Once again it will be up to primarily Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart to do the job.
The Celtics will once again be led by Kyrie Irving who last night had his best game in a Boston uniform scoring 43 points and dishing out 11 assists. Irving has been absolutely on fire this month. In the last 7 games, Kyrie has put up MVP caliber numbers with 28.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 6.4 APG on unreal shooting splits of 56/49/91. Also, Gordon Hayward is off his minutes restriction and is starting to look physically better and it shows in his play. He has been handling the ball handing position when playing with the bench squad showing his excellent play making skills. His shooting and defense have also come a long way since the beginning of the season.
If the BWA come out with another great showing against the rather thin Utah bench and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can continue to be aggressive in taking it into the paint, Boston will have an excellent chance of pulling out the win. The keys for Boston will be gang rebounding on the defensive end to stop easy second chance points, getting off to a great start offensively, staying aggressive on both sides of the ball but especially offensively. The Celtics open up much more open three point shots when they make the defense collapse because the C's are taking the ball to the hole. Here's hoping for another revenge win and a successful 3-0 homestand.