Jayson Tatum’s 39 lifts Celtics over short-handed Jazz 122-114

BOSTON (AP) —The collective sentiment among the Celtics following their 41-pointwin at Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee was it would bemeaningless if they lost Friday’s follow-up at home againstUtah.

Despite someunexpected hiccups just getting home, Boston successfully avoided aletdown.

Jayson Tatumhad 39 points and 11 assists and the Celtics pushed past the Jazz122-114 to continue to gain ground in the race for the East’s topplayoff seed.

Boston hadits normal travel routine altered following Thursday’s win atMilwaukee when an issue pushed its return flight back from postgameto early Friday afternoon. The Celtics landed six hours before thegame.

“We kind oflooked at it as a challenge,” Tatum said. “It was fun figuring itout regardless of how the last 24 hours was. It was rewarding. ...It kind of brought us closer together.” Malcolm Brogdon added 19points and Derrick White finished with 17. Boston had 173-pointers, including five by Tatum.

The Celtics(54-24) are 1 1/2 games behind Milwaukee (55-22) and were comingoff a 41-point win over the Bucks. Milwaukee is off until Sunday,when it hosts the 76ers. The Celtics have four games remaining.

“I trustedour guys,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I knew we were goingto be really competitive. I knew we were going to put ourselves inposition to win the game. I could just sense it from our guys.”

TalenHorton-Tucker led Utah with 28 points and eight assists. WalkerKessler added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

The Jazz(36-41) came in holding the 12th spot in the West and trailing10th-place Oklahoma City by 1 1/2 games and 11th place Dallas by ahalf-game. The Mavericks were idle, but the Thunder lost atIndiana.

The Celticstook control in the second and third quarters, outscoring the Jazz66-49.

Boston alsotook advantage of a huge free throw discrepancy for most of thenight. The Celtics connected on 21 of 22 attempts, compared to 13of 14 for the Jazz. But 12 of Utah’s attempts were in the fourthquarter.

It wasBoston’s players who took issue with the officiating with just overfour minutes to play when Blake Griffin and Tatum were whistled fortechnical fouls 10 seconds apart.

A minuteafter that, Griffin and Kris Dunn got tangled up after a foul byDunn, leading to a technical on Dunn. Tatum made the subsequentfree throw, but Dunn had words for the officials, was assessed asecond technical and ejected.

“I’m all forthe fight, I’m not for fighting,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “Bothteams were a little bit chippy. Nobody was dirty in any way.”

The exchangeultimately put the Celtics in front 117-101 with just over threeminutes left.

With AlHorford (back stiffness) and Robert Williams (left knee) both out,the Celtics went small for the second straight game against theJazz starting Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Griffin, White and Smart.

Horford andWilliams also missed the first meeting between the teams earlierthis month along with Smart — a win by Utah.

This time, itwas the Jazz missing several contributors, with three of their topfour scorers — Lauri Markkanen (bruised left hand), Jordan Clarkson(sprained finger) and Collin Sexton (strained left hamstring) — allout.

TIP-INS

Jazz:Outscored the Celtics 68-46 in the paint. ... Didn’t take theirfirst free throw until the 5:40 mark of the third quarter. Bostonhad attempted 16 to that point. ... Utah had six turnovers in thefirst quarter.

Celtics:Scored 19 points off 18 Jazz turnovers. ... Former Red Sox starDavid Ortiz, current manager Alex Cora both sat courtside, as didrapper Jack Harlow and actor Casey Affleck.

NOTSHUT DOWN

Hardydisputed a recent report that Clarkson and Sexton will beessentially shut down for the rest of the season.

“I watchedJordan and Collin do a rehab 3-on-3 this morning in hopes ofgetting back to playing. So, I have not shut them down for theseason,” Hardy said. “They’re still preparing as if they’re comingback.”

Clarkson hasbeen sidelined since March 7 (12 games). Sexton has been out sinceFeb. 23 (17 games).

UPNEXT

Jazz: At Netson Sunday.

Celtics: At76ers on Tuesday.