Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles went off Friday night in Salt Lake City as the return of Gordon Hayward resulted in the home team getting their second win in their building this season. With the 123-115 victory, the Jazz are now 2-4 in games played at home this season, setting the ship straight (for the moment) with their overall record now back to .500.
This was a great win for the Jazz, who sincerely needed some sort of spark to make sure their season did not get off to a worse start. Ingles played a major part in the win, dropping 27 points behind a 10-14 shooting performance, including five triples.
Donovan Mitchell added 21 to the cause, but ten of his points came from the free throw line. Jae Crowder also had a noteworthy night, scoring 20 points (including four triples) off the bench.
After a very close first quarter between both teams, Utah jumped out to a seven point lead at halftime and then extended their margin to 13 by end of the third quarter.
While Hayward had 13 points in his return to Utah, Terry Rozier had the best night of anybody in a Celtics uniform, netting 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Winning half of their first 12 games of the season was not the kind of start that the Jazz were expecting– but it’s where they are at the moment. Taking everything that’s happened into perspective, this is their best chance to just start fresh.
There’s still 70 games left in the season, and the playoffs are even further away than that. It does no good for the team to try and get ahead of themselves, when the mindset that helped them overcome a poor start last year was taking things one game at a time.
Following the loss in Salt Lake City, the Boston Celtics drop to 7-5 on the season and 4-4 away from TD Garden. They’ve also lost three of their last four games, with their only win in that stretch being a comeback win in OT over the Phoenix Suns.
Boston’s next game is Sunday in Portland, while the Jazz have their eyes set on a trip to Memphis for a Monday night showdown.
