The Utah Jazz return from their 4 day hiatus to face off against the Boston Celtics for a Friday night battle at the Viv. Both of these teams are jockeying for position in their respective conferences and need to keep momentum in order to keep pace in the standings. This game marks the first of a five game Western Conference road trip for the Celtics and the Jazz are finishing a four game home stand before heading out on the road for four straight games.

The Celtics have won five out of their last seven including a low scoring affair against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Leading scorer Jayson Tatum a career high 16 rebounds to go along with a game high 26 points. The Celtics managed to grind out the win despite Jaylen Brown going 3-11 for just 9 points. The Celtics are a team that looks like they are finally starting to gel after an underwhelming start to this season. The key for Boston in this game will be to keep the Jazz from scoring at will around the hoop and also getting solid contributions from their bench.

The Jazz come into this game after an impressive win against the Portland Trail Blazers this past Monday. Not only did Utah manage to frustrate Damian Lillard, but they were able score and score efficiently. The Jazz are starting to look a lot more like the team that we saw last season with more of their normal shots starting to fall. “The ball’s starting to go inn on some of the shots that I’ve been missing”, said Donovan Mitchell after the game. Mitchell has also been facilitating a lot better the last couple of games, registering 12 assists in the last two games. The key for the Jazz to win this game will be to slow down the bench attach lead by Dennis Schroeder, a notorious thorn in the Jazz’s side in the past.

November was a bit of a bumpy ride for the Jazz, but let’s hope that with the calendar turning to a new month that the team can start off on the right foot and continue to improve. As the late, great Kobe Bryant once said “It’s not how you start the season but how you finish it”. Let’s hope the Jazz can go make Mr. Laker legend proud by beating his arch nemesis Boston Celtics.

Side Note - Anytime the Jazz play the Celtics, I always think of this movie……..

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, December 3rd, 2021, 7:00 PM MT

Location: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

LOCAL TV: ATTSN-RM

RADIO: 97.5/1280 The Zone, or listen on the Utah Jazz app