When the shattered Utah Jazz come to Boston on Friday, the Boston Celtics, just one night after one of their best wins of the season, will try to keep the momentum going.
On Thursday, Boston defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, who were in attendance, 140-99 in a matchup of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. While matching their second-highest point total of the season, the Celtics converted 22 of their 43 attempts at the three-point line, or 51.2%.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points to go along with Jayson Tatum’s 40 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics.
Two games behind Milwaukee, Boston (53-24) is in second place in the Eastern Conference. With five regular-season games remaining, the Celtics won the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their blowout victory on Thursday.
The Jazz, who will be without at least four regular contributors on Friday, the Celtics hope the fun continues.
Despite missing Lauri Markkanen with a hand injury, Collin Sexton with a hamstring injury, Jordan Clarkson with a finger injury, Rudy Gay with a back injury, and Kelly Olynyk with an illness, Utah kept its playoff hopes alive by defeating the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday by a score of 128-117.
Olynyk is listed as questionable to face Boston, and Gay, Markkanen, Sexton, and Clarkson won’t play.
Utah (36-40) is in 12th place in the Western Conference. It is one and a half games behind the Dallas Mavericks (37-40), who are in 11th place, and one and a half games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-39), who are in the hunt for the final spot in the four-team play-in tournament. Notwithstanding a solid completion, Utah will be one of 14 groups in the NBA’s draft lottery.
Utah has six regular-season games remaining, three at home and three on the road, including the matchup with Boston.
The Utah roster’s top four scorers are Markkanen (25.7 points per game), Clarkson (20.8), Sexton (14.3), and Olynyk (12.2).
With a career-high 41 points, Talen Horton-Tucker filled the offensive void against the Spurs. Horton-Tucker connected on 15 of 25 attempts, including 6 of 11 attempts from three-point range. This season, he scores 9.9 points on average per game.
Utah ended a four-game losing streak largely due to Horton-Tucker.
The Jazz and Celtics will play each other twice this season, with the second meeting taking place on Friday. On March 18 in Salt Lake City, Utah overcame a 19-point deficit to defeat Boston 118-117.
In that game, Markkanen led the Jazz with 28 points. The Celtics’ Grant Williams scored 23 points and made a career-high seven 3-pointers, but Walker Kessler blocked his final shot for the win.
