The Utah Jazz Shot The Ball Unlike Anything The Celtics Have Ever Seen In The History Of Their Franchise. Naturally, Things Did Not Work Out Great

Melissa Majchrzak. Getty Images.

Look, I tried to warn you. I tried to make sure you were mentally prepared for the West Coast trip. I say it time and time again because honestly it's the truth. When we see this team go out West, weird shit happens. You have to know that going in, and it's why I talked about it in yesterday's blog. Last night's game was full of weird shit, for both sides really. The Celts became the first team in like 30 years to drop 130 on the road in Utah in regulation…and they lost. While all losses are the same in the sense that they all give you an L in the loss column no matter how they happen, they are different in terms of how you feel after experiencing one. Not all losses are created equal in that sense if you follow what I'm saying. Let me say that in a different way. Do you feel the same after last night's shootout against the Jazz than you did against the Hawks or Nets? When this team got their ass kicked and played lifeless basketball? Hell no. It's frustrating. It's annoying for sure. But sometimes you simply have to tip your cap. The Jazz shotmaking was incredible from the opening tip. Didn't matter if the Celts contested or left them open, they were on another level. In fact, it was the second best three point shooting night in franchise history for the Jazz. It was the most threes given up by the Celts in their franchise history, and their defense wasn't that bad! So like I said, weird shit happens. I feel pretty confident that if we get the effort and execution we saw last night over the course of the season, this team will be fine. We're not going to see them give up a franchise record 3PM every time out. You take that one on the chin and move on. 

With that all said, at some point this team is going to have start converting these games into things that actually go in the win column. Like the one that counts, not just the one where we gauge how we feel about their play. Being in a game like that with a team shooting like the Jazz did all without your second best player is all fine and good, but at the end of the day the results do still matter. The goal of this West Coast trip is at least 3-2. While still in play, you're now looking at a 3-1 finish against POR/LAL/LAC/PHX and the Clipper game is a B2B as is tonight against the Blazers. That's why it would have been pretty damn sweet to steal this game last night. But give the Jazz credit. Every time the Celts made a push, they immediately responded. They made their shots down the stretch whether they were contested or not. You expected water to find its level and it never really did. Sometimes that shit happens, especially in weird late night West Coast games.

We'll see how the Celts respond tonight, but first we have to talk more about this game.

The Good

- I think it's fair to say nearly all of us were slightly concerned with Jayson Tatum's first 21 or so games. We'd seen slow starts before, but nothing like how he's started this season shooting the basketball. It's been bizarre. I know for me, I was curious to see how he would look once the calendar finally flipped to December. Don't ask me why, but historically in his career this is the month where we start to see the version of Tatum we all know and love. May I present to you his night last night

37/6/5 on 12-25 (2-11) shooting with 11 FTA. The issues from three are still a concern, but that'll come around as Tatum finds his December rhythm. We're two games into the month and the difference has been immediate

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11/28 vs TOR: 8/7/10 on 2-15 (1-5) w/ 4 FTA

12/1 vs PHI: 26/16/2 on 9-20 (3-8) w/ 5 FTA

12/2 vs UTA: 37/6/5 on 12-25 (2-11) w/ 11 FTA

I'm not saying Tatum won't ever take a step back this month, I'm just saying it's a relief that so far Tatum is following his normal season progression. For the Celts to have any shot in this tough month, they need the normal December Tatum. The one that for his career averages 47/37% shooting splits. That's the best shooting mark Tatum has of any regular season month. December is when he starts to make shit happen, and so far that's what he's done. In this game, I thought Tatum had one of his best all around performances of the season, even in a loss. Think about it. Was he efficient? Mostly. Was he engaged defensively? I'd say so. NBA tracking has him holding his main matchup to just 3 points on 22 possessions. Did he move the ball and create for others? Yes. Did he show up in the fourth quarter when his team needed him? Yes, he finished with 11 points on 3-6 shooting in the fourth quarter. Was he aggressive? Mostly, we all will take 11 FTA and time after time he attacked the rim late in this game.

If this is the version of Tatum we're going to see moving forward, things will be fine. The big question for him was always can he play like this consistently, and can he do it against good teams. I'd say that's exactly what he's done to start the month.

- I honestly do not know where this team would be without the play of Al Horford. This is starting to get a little insane. None of us, even the Green Kool Aid mainliners like myself could have foreseen this version of Al was what we were going to get. I thought he'd be good, I thought his skillset was something the roster needed and he could provide value, but this?

This is the best I've ever seen Al Horford look in a Celtics uniform. Period. At age 35. He looks spry as hell, defensively Al is playing at an All NBA level, and now it looks like his three is starting to come around. We know what he can do as a passer already, but leading the team with 9 assists is pretty wild. You feel for the guy after the effort he gave to still walk away with the loss, but just like with Tatum, if this is truly the type of version of Horford we're going to get this season, big picture they'll be fine. 

The big thing for Al is to continue to be that reliable safety valve offensively. Especially if Tatum is going to look like this and there's no Jaylen on the floor. Teams are going to hone in on Tatum and Al is going to be living in wide open jumpers once Tatum reverses the ball. Remember Playoff Al? He was so effective because he was nails as a catch & shoot option, especially from the top of the arc. When Al's doing that, you know he's locked in. 

- Listen, for a team that more often than not can't break 90, I'm going to put scoring 130 points against one of the best defense in the NBA in 48 minutes without your second leading scorer in this section. That's impressive no matter how you want to slice it. They shot 51.6% from the floor which I didn't even know they could do as a team. If you told me the same team that started this game 1-6 and was down a quick 14-2 would drop 130 in regulation there's no way I would believe you. That's the infuriating chaos that is the 2021-22 Boston Celtics. The same team that can drop 130 against an elite defense couldn't crack 90 the game before against an average defense. 

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The ball moved, they were great about converting turnovers into points, and they went shot for shot with a team that made a billion threes. No sense to hang your head about that.

- We may have seen Marcus Smart's best dunk of his career

he also had 4 steals to go along with an efficient 15 points (5-11, 3-5). Just as a reminder here, in a game that Jaylen didn't play and others were going to have to step up offensively, one where the team took 91 FGA and 39 3PA, Smart took just 11 shots and 5 3PA. His decision making and shot selection continue to improve, which is what people said they wanted. 

- It's silly to deny it at this point. Grant's three point shooting is not only real, it's a weapon. Another 2-3 last night, he's now shooting 44.2% on the season. In fact, of all players in the entire NBA to take at least 75 threes, Grant has the 4th highest 3P%. He's 34-77 a quarter of the way through the season. For me, that's a large enough sample to where my brain now expects Grant to make his open threes. Whether it's from the corners, above the break, top of the arc, Grant has shown the ability to knock all those down. 

Having a reliable three point shot like this is such a ceiling raiser for Grant as an overall prospect. If you're someone that wants him to mold into like a PJ Tucker type, three point shooting is an important part of that equation. Coming off a 37% season last year and 44% this year, is it crazy to think Grant can live in the high 30s/low 40s from behind the arc? That's the type of consistent spacing you need around the Jays moving forward. 

- I'm not really sure where to put Dennis Schroder. One one hand, his brutal shooting is what helped dig their early hole. But then it was his offense that got them back in it. Without his 26 points, the Celts aren't close. We saw him with buckets late which were huge. But then we saw him take terrible shots late that were not so great. The turnovers were tough. So where do we put him? There were parts of his game last night that I liked. I thought he was big to end the first quarter after his slow start to keep the Celts close, and then he was great in the third quarter. 

His speed is a weapon, he finished relatively efficient at 10-21, but it was overall a weird night for Schroder.

- Josh Richardson looks to be comfortable in his role and man is he having a great start to the year. A career high from the floor (47%), he was once again solid off the bench with 11/3 on 4-8 shooting in his 28 minutes. His midrange game is back to being extremely reliable like it was during his MIA years. 

While Jaylen is out, I would love to see a closing lineup of Smart/Richardson/Tatum/Al/Rob. He's shown enough to warrant the opportunity to close out games if he's going to continue to be a consistent efficient scorer off the bench.

The Bad

- We can begin with the obvious. Giving up 137 points, even with insane shooting that probably won't happen again, is bad. For a team that has to make it's living being elite on the defensive end, that can't really happen if you give up 78 second half points. The numbers are as bad as you think. There's the 55/52% finish, or maybe you prefer the 27 3PM, or maybe it's the 20-23 FTA. To put this into perspective, the Jazz shot better from three than the Celts did from the floor, and the Celts finished over 51%. 

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I said it in the blog heading in, when you play the Jazz the first thing you have to do is guard the perimeter. They launch threes and make threes at the same pace as Golden State. Even though I'll concede that the Celts did an OK job of contesting, it's not like we hadn't seen them be capable of not giving up a billion points. They held UTA to just 21 points on 35/22% shooting in the second quarter. Where did that go? If we want to say that if this Celts team looks like they did offensively for the rest of the trip they'll be fine, we also have to state that if they give up 137 points they very much will not be fine. In fact, they'll lose every game they play.

Smart had a rough night defensively when it came to his matchup on Mitchell. He cooked him for 12 points on 4-5 shooting on 18 possessions. A total of 3 of those makes were threes and one was an AND1. Mike Conley torched Al Horford in the switch repeatedly, especially late in the game to the tune of 11 points on 4-4 shooting, with 3 of those being threes. For this team to win, they have to defend. That's how it's always been and it's how it will always be.

- Let's talk about Mike Conley for a second. An awesome point guard who has had a great career. It's also extremely bullshit that he went 7-7 from three. Conley has played a total of 906 games in his career, and last night was just the 7th time he's made at least 7 3PM in a game. It was the first time in his career he's ever gone 7-7. So am I going to get all bent out of shape because Mike Conley had a prayer shooting performance? No. It just goes to show that weird shit will always pop up on these trips.

- It also doesn't help to give up the most made threes in franchise history. The Celts still could have been poor in this area, maybe give up an insane number like 20 3PM. They do that, they win this game. But nope! They have to twist the knife and give up 27. Because teams make 27 3PM all the time. That's fun. 

- It really sucks that just as Romeo once again looked like he was showing real flashes, he twists his ankle on a fastbreak layup and doesn't finish the game. I doubt he plays tonight. It's maddening really, the kid simply cannot catch a break.

- One thing the Celts did not do particularly was was defend the P&R. Whether it was Conley/Mitchell on drives or the Celts bigs over committing and exposing the lob, the Jazz went to this whenever they wanted in the fourth and scored every single time. Gobert finished 5-5 (also 8-10 from the line which is more weird bullshit) and this is where you could question Ime's lineup choices. Rob didn't close, and maybe he does a better job there, but you also needed Horford for the spacing/offense plus he's a pretty decent defender himself. They just didn't execute defensively on that play and the Jazz knew it. 

When this game was in the balance and the Celts went up 115-112, they went to the Gobert P&R. Then Schroder made it a four point game with 4:22 left, and the Jazz went right back to the Gobert P&R. It's what kept them in it and prevented the Celts from getting separation. Then you had the Mitchell AND1 on Smart which came out of the P&R.  Given them credit for great late game execution, and on the Celts side they have to figure that shit out or teams will just P&R them to death late in games for high percentage looks.

- It was also pretty nuts how every time the Celts took the lead, the Jazz immediately came down and hit a three. I went back and counted, this happened 6 separate times

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This goes back to what I said about their defense. The Celts just couldn't get that string of momentum stops once they finally got the lead to give them separation. Their largest lead was 4 in this game, and part of that is because they couldn't get those momentum shifting stops. The frustrating part was the Celts were able to immediately respond on the other end, they just needed to not immediately give up threes. But again, the Jazz were great at not allowing them to pull away.

The Ugly

- Down 6 with 20 seconds left and no timeouts is not the time to take a layup. My hope is that someone brings this to Dennis Schroder's attention. 

- I want to be fair here. There are things I push back against when people talk about a coaches role. One thing I do put on them are their rotations and strategy. Safe to say, I have not loved Ime's decision making when it comes to closing these games out. 

The Celts started the fourth with the lineup of Schroder/Nesmith/Richardson/Grant/Al. They played the first four minutes and had a 87 Ortg / 112 Drtg / -25 net rating. They got out to a quick start, but then went south quick. Ime called a timeout after the back to back Joe Ingles threes at the 8:15 mark. He then subbed Smart, Rob, and Tatum back into the game. That gave him a lineup of Schroder/Smart/RIchardson/Tatum/Rob. In that fourth quarter, this was by far their best lineup. It had a 137 Ortg / 42 Drtg / +94.6 net rating. From the 8:15 mark on, we saw the Celts climb back and take the lead. Up 1 after a Conley three, Tatum goes to the line. There's 4:47 left and Ime subbed Al for Rob. 

You then immediately saw all that P&R I just talked about, the closing group had a 227 Drtg and -90 net rating. While part of this is son the players to execute, Ime keeps shooting himself in the foot with his late game lineup decisions. Personally, if you wanted to get Al back in the game, fine. Swap him for Schroder and go with the double big lineups. Especially when you need stops. Marcus Smart can initiate the offense better than Schroder, and you don't get what he saw which is Schroder forcing things late. Ime has to figure this shit out because it's starting to impact the results. 

We now turn the page. Winning tonight in POR is now as important than ever. My hope is they didn't use all their points in this UTA loss and won't even break 80. One thing's for sure though, you have to expect any and everything tonight. Can't wait to see what annoying weird shit happens next.