SALT LAKE CITY — Jayson Tatum scored 38 points and Derrick White added 24 to lead the Boston Celtics to a 123-107 victory over the struggling Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.
The Celtics were missing rotation players Jaylen Brown (back), Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring) and Al Horford (toe), but they were shooting so well that it didn’t matter much.
“The law of averages, you play so many matches that you will not be perfect every night. You have to stick with it and trust that you’re going to have more good days than bad,” Tatum said of the Celtics shooting 40.8 percent from 3-point range.
Jrue Holiday scored 16 points and Sam Hauser 14 as the Celtics made 20 3-pointers and outscored the Jazz on second-chance points, 22-8.
“We won that battle on the boards and we had to,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Keyonte George scored 14 of his 26 points in the first quarter, Jordan Clarkson had 21 and Collin Sexton scored 20 for Utah, which has lost 11 of its last 13 games.
The Jazz played without leading scorer Lauri Markkanen (thigh) and Taylor Hendricks (toe).
Clarkson sparked an 11-3 run in the third quarter to bring the Jazz within two after trailing by double digits for much of the game.
But the Celtics responded with 20 straight points. Holiday scored three straight points to extend its lead to 113-91 with 6:28 left.
“We have a lot of elite defenders and a lot of guys that compete on both sides of the ball. When you have guys doing things like that, it pushes you to compete more defensively, it’s just a lot of fun,” White said.
Boston forced 12 consecutive empty Jazz possessions to regain control of the game, mostly without Tatum.
“We have a lot of fight in us,” George said. “But (Boston) was hitting shots. We stagnated a bit and the ball wasn’t going into the hoop.
The Celtics finished their five-game road trip strong with three straight wins. They also improved their record in second straight games to an impressive 9-2.
“I think the last game of a road trip is always important. It was a big win, we lost here last year, and a lot of guys got some minutes tonight and stepped up,” Tatum said.
The Celtics, who on Monday became the first NBA team to reach 50 wins, increased their defensive pressure each time the Jazz closed the gap.
“It’s very frustrating, especially when you’re trying to play defense,” Sexton said of Utah’s big drought.
Injuries on both sides necessitated rarely seen lineups of two-way contract starters and end-of-the-bench players.
Utah even defended Tatum with the 6-foot-1 Sexton for stretches in the second half.
Led by White and Houser hitting four 3s each, the Celtics made 14 shots from beyond the arc in the first half to take a 72-57 halftime lead.
“We always want to get off to a good start. Obviously when you hit 3, it looks good,” White said.
White finished with seven 3s after his father urged him not to think twice before shooting.
“He said something about last game, my 3 looked better, so I told him I was just going to let it go and that’s exactly what my mindset was,” White said.
Hauser is making the most of his recent opportunities with a season-high 22 at Portland on Monday and 14 against the Jazz.
“We have a culture where no matter who participates, guys are ready to play,” Mazzulla said. “I wouldn’t hesitate to call on any of these guys at any time.”
FOLLOWING
Celtics: Host Phoenix on Thursday night.
Jazz: Host the Hawks Friday night.
