The Utah Jazz will be seeking their first road victory of the season when they visit the Boston Celtics on Monday night.
Utah’s road record dropped to 0-3 following Sunday’s 126-103 loss to Charlotte. The Jazz played without center Walker Kessler, who returned to Utah before Sunday’s game to get treatment for a left shoulder injury that could prevent him from playing in the final three games of Utah’s five-game road trip. Kessler is averaging a team-high 10.8 rebounds per game and is Utah’s third-leading scorer (14.4 ppg).
Defense was an issue for Utah in Sunday’s loss. The Hornets scored 71 points in the first half and had 104 points entering the fourth quarter.
“Similar feel to last game,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said in reference to a 118-96 loss at Phoenix on Friday. “Our communication has not been very good defensively and we’re not doing a good job of guarding the ball. It’s a collective effort. Everybody has to do a little more and be a little sharper. It doesn’t help when you don’t make any shots, but I felt like our energy sort of fell off at the end of the first and beginning of the second (quarter).”
The Celtics will be looking to avoid back-to-back home losses. Boston had won three in a row before Saturday’s 128-101 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets.
“Obviously, it wasn’t our night,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “Rockets played well, good team, well-coached, They were prepared, and this wasn’t our night. So to me, that happens over the course of the season, and so it’ll be more important about how we respond on Monday at shootaround and in the game on Monday night.”
Baylor Scheierman was one of the few bright spots for the Celtics in Saturday’s loss to Houston. Scheierman came off the bench and led Boston in scoring with 17 points in 23 minutes.
Scheierman, who scored a total of three points playing five of Boston’s first six games, made 4 of 5 from 3-point range. He also grabbed five rebounds and had two steals.
“You try to just make an impact wherever you can,” Scheierman said. “It is tough to get in a flow when you’re only in there for two-and-a-half, three minutes. But you’re trying to just make winning plays, whether that’s boxing out, making a cut that frees up someone else. It’s the little things, it’s not necessarily everything that shows up in a stat sheet.”
Five Celtics enter Monday’s game averaging at least 10 points per game: Jaylen Brown (25.4), Derrick White (15.0), Payton Pritchard (14.6), Anfernee Simons (13.7) and Sam Hauser (10.4). Center Neemias Queta is the team’s leading rebounder (7.6).
Lauri Markkanen has carried the Utah offense this season. He scored at least 32 points in four straight games before tossing in 29 points during Sunday’s loss. He’s averaging 33.8 points per game.
Keyonte George is Utah’s No. 2 scorer (21.2 ppg).
Utah has lost three in a row and four of five since opening the season with a 129-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Our mentality has to shift in terms of the energy we’re willing to give to the game,” Hardy said on Sunday. “I have no doubt that our locker room will self-correct and be ready to go tomorrow.”
