Playing their fourth game in five nights, capping the longest such trek in the NBA this season based on total mileage spanned, the Boston Celtics had every excuse to struggle on Monday night against the Utah Jazz.
Instead, the Celtics produced one of their most dominating quarters of basketball, outscoring the Jazz by 24 in the second quarter and hanging on for a 99-90 triumph at EnergySolutions Arena.
The Celtics won three times during this four-in-five stretch. After losing to the Clippers in the opener, their only loss was a three-point defeat at the hands of the league-leading Golden State Warriors on Sunday night at Oracle Arena. Many thought Boston would come unglued out west on a season-high six-game road trip that concludes Wednesday in Minnesota, but Boston instead has more than doubled its win total for the month out west and has moved within two games of a playoff berth in the East.
The hero on Monday? It was 34-year-old Tayshaun Prince, who scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting with five assists and two rebounds over 30 minutes. Not too shabby for a player who it seemed might not even put on a Boston jersey when he was acquired in the Jeff Green trade with Memphis earlier this month.
Prince had 10 points in Boston's dominant second quarter. The Celtics and Jazz were tied at 21 early in that frame, but Boston closed out the half on a 34-10 run that culminated with an Avery Bradley dunk for a 24-point lead at the intermission. The Celtics outscored the Jazz 38-14 in the quarter.
Boston let its foot off the accelerator in the third quarter and Utah surged as close as 4 in the frame. The Celtics did enough to keep the Jazz at arm's length in the final quarter and emerge with the win.
• Bench is fine for Zeller: Despite recently shuffling to a reserve role, Tyler Zeller continues to thrive for Boston. The big man scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds over 29:11 during Monday's game. Zeller was plus-15 while pairing with Prince (and even Gerald Wallace too) to provide a bench spark.
• Loose balls: The Celtics stuck with a 10-man rotation despite playing for the fourth time in five games. Phil Pressey and James Young were healthy DNPs. ... Shavlik Randolph was inactive with a left hamstring strain. ... The Celtics limited the damage on the offensive glass as the Jazz turned 10 offensive rebounds into just 14 second-chance points.
• What it means: The Celtics improve to 16-27; the Jazz fall to 16-29. Boston is now only two games in back of eighth-seed Charlotte (though the Celtics have Detroit and Brooklyn between them as well). Boston wraps up this six-game road trip in Minnesota on Wednesday night.