Preview: Boston Celtics at Utah Jazz

The Boston Celtics are set to start their second half of the season in Utah against the Jazz on national TV, on Friday night. Due to the Celtics hot streak before the break, they have many nationally televised games the rest of the season.

Boston enters this game at an impressive 32-23 record, trying to maintain the three seed in the Eastern Conference. The Utah Jazz have quietly put together a 26-27 record this season, good enough for ninth in the West. This will be the first matchup of the season between these two teams.

The Celtics suffered a tough loss when sixth man, Kelly Olynyk, suffered a partially dislocated right shoulder. He is expected to miss a couple of games as he is getting a second opinion in Los Angeles this weekend.

The Jazz have been without guards Dante Exum and Alec Burks this season. Although, Burks is expected back soon for the Jazz.

While Boston won 10 of their last 12 games, the Jazz also ended the first half of the season on a hot streak of their own. Utah went 7-1 over their final eight games leading up to the break, making this game even more intriguing.

The Utah Jazz have one of the best, young frontcourts in the NBA. Butler product, Gordon Hayward, has transformed himself into a very good all-around player, leading the team with 19.9 points per game. While, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert compliment each other very well down low. Favors has a great post-up game and mid-range shot, and Gobert’s game revolves around his ability to block shots, averaging 2.4 blocks per game.

Gordon Hayward also leads the Jazz in assists per game with 3.7. Utah isn’t a team that has great ball movement, only averaging 18.4 assists per contest. That is partly due to Dante Exum’s injury, forcing him to miss the entire season. Trey Burke has come off the bench for Utah this season but is more of a scorer than passer, and Raul Neto, their starting point guard, is still getting accumulated to the NBA game.

With that being said, the key matchup in this game is between Avery Bradley and Rodney Hood. Not a lot of people realize how good Hood has been over his first two NBA seasons. Coming out of Duke, Hood was considered one of the best pure shooters in the draft and so far he has lived up to the billing. Hood is third on the team in points per game, averaging 14.9, and shoots a respectable 42.3 percent from the field and a very good 36.1 percent from behind the arc. He has had a bigger role this season and so far has been able to change his game and show why he was selected in the first round.

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Bradley will have his hands full, especially considering Hood is 6’8″. Marcus Smart may be called off the bench to guard Hood, due to his better size. Although, the lack of offense from Raul Neto helps Boston focus on Hood and keep Isaiah Thomas on Neto.

The X-Factor in this game is Tyler Zeller. With Olynyk out with a shoulder injury, Zeller’s role will expand even more. Zeller finished the first half of the season on a roll and seems to be back in the rotation. He will have another chance to prove why he deserves big minutes off the bench as he will probably be the key guy off the bench for Boston in the frontcourt. Despite the Jazz’s great starting frontcourt, rookie Trey Lyles and Trevor Booker have not been anything special coming off the bench.

If Zeller, or any of the bigs on Boston, are able to spread the floor and bring Gobert out of the paint that would be a huge advantage for Isaiah Thomas and the rest of the team. The absence of Kelly Olynyk’s three-point shot could be felt hard on Friday night if the Celtics aren’t able to get Gobert out of the paint.

Next: Predicting the Boston Celtics' Remaining Games

At first glance, this game won’t catch a lot of people’s eye. However, Utah has a lot of good, young talent on their team and has taken a huge step this season. This game will follow the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder on ESPN, and while it doesn’t offer the star power of the other game, this one could turn out to be a better matchup.

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