The Triple Team: Celtics fans pack the Delta Center as defending champions beat Jazz 121-99

Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 121-99 loss to the Boston Celtics from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. A play and a conversation that shows the gap between the Jazz and Celtics

The Celtics are the NBA champs and the Jazz are the NBA’s bottom dwellers, and as you’d expect, that was extremely on display on Friday night. The shots, turnovers, free throws, rebounds, and even the support of the Delta Center crowd all went the Celtics' way.

I thought one moment — and a conversation that followed — was a microcosm of that. It was this shot from Brice Sensabaugh:

Honestly, it’s an open look, one that just misses. It’s reasonable.

But it’s not elite. Keyonte George was open in the corner for a corner three. There was an opportunity to turn a good look into a great look, and it was skipped.

At the beginning of the second half, as the game clock ticked away, Jazz coach Will Hardy took a seat next to Sensabaugh and talked to him about that play.

“Obviously, we’re playing the Celtics, a team that gets a lot of threes. So he just mentioned — try to keep on pace with their threes. Because obviously if their team is hitting threes, and we’re getting twos, they’re obviously gonna win," Sensabaugh said. “He was just saying, early in the clock, just make sure we’re seeing the weak side. And then, you know, it’s under 10, under six, then we can get into (that kind of shot)."

The difference between the best teams in the NBA and the worst teams is smaller than you’d think: the Celtics’ offensive rating is 120, while the Jazz’s is 111. That’s only a couple of points per quarter of difference, or just one or two plays like Sensabaugh’s above.

We talked last Jazz/Celtics game about how impressive the Celtics' development of role-playing talent was — guys like Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet and even Baylor Scheierman make that right play over and over again. But it’s worth mentioning that, while all of those players were found on the scrap heap, they’re all between 24 and 29 years old.

Sensabaugh is still 21. I think he definitely has a path to NBA success, but it needs to be via thinking like a 24-29 year old. Hopefully, conversations like those Hardy had with Sensabaugh can push him to being that kind of player.

2. Collin Sexton’s game and attitude

Collin Sexton had a terrific offensive game: 30 points on 12-16 shooting, plus three assists and two rebounds. He did have five fouls.

As you probably know if you’ve watched a Jazz game over the last three seasons, Sexton is the Jazz’s most competitive player. He works himself up into a us-versus-them frenzy before every game, and generally maintains that throughout. Even in a 16-55 season, he’s still throwing big balls dance celebrations and shoving opponents when they bother his teammates.

“It’s giving energy, at the end of the day,” Sexton said. “I know for me, that’s something I can give each and every night. The ball might not be going into the basket, but the energy I can always give, and it can bring somebody else along.”

Hardy feels he’s done well given the circumstances, too.

“I think on the whole, he’s handled himself great, I think to expect no moments of frustration to show would be unrealistic. I think he’s had a few moments where his frustration has shown, but I think that his ability to move past those moments bring himself back to the group and continue to just compete every day ... I think Collin has shown a ton of character this year, and I think that the way that he approaches every game, his intensity on the floor in the games is very visible to anybody that’s watching,” Hardy said.

At some point, this player deserves to be on a good team. I get that he’s flawed, and isn’t going to be the main driver of that good team. But he cares about winning, and the Jazz don’t look likely to be doing much of that anytime soon.

3. Delta Center rooting for the Celtics

I’ve had a credential for 12 seasons now, and was going to probably 90% of Jazz home games for the seven years before that. And out of all of those hundreds of games attended at the Delta Center, I think Friday night’s game hit a high-water mark for opponent fan support.

Put simply, clearly, a majority of the Delta Center’s attendees were rooting for the Celtics. The cheers were louder after Celtics baskets, several Let’s Go Celtics chants started, and green was everywhere. Even small things you’d normally hear from the TD Garden crowds, like noises of “Luuuuuke” after backup center Luke Kornet did a thing, were present.

But it makes sense. The Celtics are NBA Champions, from an area where there are a lot of transplants here in Utah. (Really, the Celtics aren’t just Boston’s team, but New England’s team.)

Season ticket holders, for one of the only times this season, found they could make a profit selling their tickets of around 30%, after taking much larger losses on the rest of the games this season. So why not take advantage?

I think the fees the Jazz and SeatGeek charge to sell those tickets are probably designed to gently push against those fans selling those tickets. Given how bad the product is on the floor, though, it’s hard to blame those fans who are just trying to get anything they can out of a lost season.

I also suspect we’ll see this trend continue. As season tickets get more expensive, the on-court product is likely to be of iffy quality for another couple of years here. If the Jazz get Cooper Flagg, or otherwise turn around the team, it’s at that point we’ll start to see Jazz fans see a big game as an opportunity to see their team beat a Goliath, not as a chance to mitigate their own costs.

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