Riding a four-game win streak into a Monday night matchup with the Utah Jazz, the Celtics extended their win streak to five led by Sam Hauser’s explosive shooting display in a 114-108 win.
Boston (47-18) were led in scoring by Hauser with 33 points while the Utah Jazz (15-50) got 28 points from John Collins.
The Celtics were down two starters on Monday night, with Jayson Tatum (right knee tendinopathy) and Kristaps Porzingis (Illness) sitting along with Al Horford (toe sprain). Utah’s injury report was even longer, with seven players ruled out, including Lauri Markkanen (lower back), Jordan Clarkson (left plantar fasciitis) and Keyonte George (left foot contusion).
The Celtics rolled out a starting lineup featuring Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown and Luke Kornet. It’s a lineup that hasn’t played a single minute together all season.
3-point makes were hard to come by in the first quarter, with Boston shooting 3-of-13 from beyond the arc and Utah shooting 1-of-9. Holiday hit Boston’s first triple from the left corner, finishing the quarter with a team-best seven points while Brown finished with six points and two assists, one of which was a no-look feed on the fast break to Kornet.
The Celtics entered the second quarter up 25-24, maintaining that advantage into halftime with a 53-47 lead, thanks in large part to a monster performance from Derrick White. After just one shot attempt in the first quarter, White took over, shooting 5-of-7 for 13 points to lead the C’s into the break. His biggest moment came with under four minutes to go, sending Walker Kessler flying to the floor with a crossover stepback to knock down an open 3-pointer.
Brown shot just 4-of-12 from the field in the first half, but finished on two layups late in the second quarter, one of which he converted into a 3-point play.
In the third quarter, the hot hand belonged to Hauser, who knocked down seven threes to help the Celtics extend the lead to as large as 24 points. Hauser, who shot 1-of-6 from the perimeter in the first half, was a scorching 7-of-10 from the 3-point line in the third quarter alone. He was one 3-pointer shy of an NBA record for threes in a quarter.
Trailing 90-69, Utah continued to fight, running off 11 straight points to cut Boston’s lead to 10 before Payton Pritchard temporarily silenced that momentum with a three and a layup. Utah then cut the deficit to nine after Brice Sensabaugh scored an and-one finish with seven minutes to go. Sensabaugh was instrumental to Utah’s comeback, scoring 17 fourth quarter points.
Utah tied the game at 103 with just over three minutes to play, but a free throw make from Brown and a corner triple from Holiday immediately pushed the Celtics back in front 107-103. With under two minutes to play, a sequence that saw Brown blow past Kessler for a huge dunk and Hauser walk into a transition three pushed Boston ahead by eight, allowing them to hold on for a close victory in clutch time.
The Celtics have a nationally-televised battle of heavyweights coming up on Wednesday, March 12 when they host the OKC Thunder, who stand at the top of the Western Conference standings with a 53-11 record. That game starts at 7:30 p.m.
