Dose of actuality: Jazz begin off hardest stretch of season with 29-point loss to Celtics

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BOSTON — The Utah Jazz acquired a dose of actuality on Friday.

And it got here at them quick.

Earlier than three minutes had even gone off the clock, the Jazz have been down by 10 factors. A minute into the second quarter, the deficit had grown to twenty. And earlier than the primary half had even ended, Utah was down by as many as 36 factors.

The excellent news: It did not get a lot worse than that.

The dangerous: It by no means acquired any higher, both.

The Boston Celtics made simple work of the Jazz to the tune of a 126-97 win Friday at TD Backyard.

On the primary possession of the sport, the Jazz acquired a deflection and a steal resulting in a transition probability for Kris Dunn. His layup try was blocked from behind, so was Simone Fontecchio’s putback try.

Thus started a troubling pattern for Utah Friday evening.

“We simply seemed timid across the basket early within the sport,” Jazz coach Will Hardy stated. “We shot underneath 50% within the paint tonight.”

These misses led to leak-out possibilities for Boston, and the Jazz may by no means get settled — a minimum of not till the sport was properly out of attain.

Jayson Tatum scored 23 of his 30 factors within the first half — and was outscoring the Jazz himself properly into the second quarter — to guide six Celtics who reached double figures.

Lauri Marrkanen led the Jazz with 17 factors and 11 rebounds

Utah had gained six of its final seven video games, and 9 of its final 12 coming into Friday evening, however the workforce knew issues have been about to get a lot more durable.

The sport in Boston started a assassin’s row stretch towards the higher echelon within the league. Utah shall be at Philadelphia Saturday and at Milwaukee Monday (the Celtics, Bucks, and 76ers have the three greatest data within the league) earlier than heading again to Salt Lake CIty for a sport towards the defending champion Denver Nuggets.

It is brutal run, and it could not have began any worse.

“I admire the nightmare gasoline with the 4 groups in a row,” Hardy stated earlier than Friday’s sport. “I feel enjoying actually good groups all the time exams you. We have been enjoying good basketball of late however to go on the highway and play high-level opponents in nice, arduous atmospheres goes to be actually good for our group. It should check us each on the court docket from a bodily standpoint, it is going to check our emotional and psychological stability.”

The Jazz did not cross the primary check.

Boston jumped out to a 10-0 lead in a blink — a run the Jazz by no means absolutely recovered from. The Celtics then eliminated all doubt with a 24-2 flurry within the second quarter.

Boston’s protection was suffocating to begin the sport, holding the Jazz to only 15 first-quarter factors. Utah shot 5-of-27 and 1-of-12 from 3-point vary within the first 12 minutes.

Early on the Jazz have been lacking possibilities on the rim or open 3-point pictures. As issues went on, although, Utah settled for isolation attacking — dribbling into crowds and forcing up dangerous pictures. That is when issues actually acquired out of hand.

“The video games towards the actually good groups, they check your means to acknowledge what’s actual and what’s not and what was a missed shot on an excellent execution play versus what was a nasty possession,” Hardy stated. “And I believed early within the sport we have been doing fairly properly with our execution, and I simply thought it slipped.”

Boston made the Jazz pay for that slippage — over and over and over.

Whereas back-to-back units are often loathed, the Jazz are trying ahead to getting again on the court docket rapidly.

“Particularly simply to clean this one down the drain and simply proceed to push,” Collin Sexton stated about enjoying Saturday in Philadelphia. “I really feel just like the one tomorrow it is gonna be large and it is gonna be an excellent one.”

It will be arduous to be worse.

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