Despite a brief period of difficulty in early March due to losses to Denver and Cleveland, the Boston Celtics are heading home victorious. They defeated the Utah Jazz 123-107 to cap off their West Coast road trip after victories against Phoenix and Portland. On Thursday, they will play Phoenix once more while riding a three-game winning streak.

The Celtics found themselves shorthanded more than they had in previous weeks due to injuries to Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring), Al Horford (toe), and Jaylen Brown (sacroiliac strain). Following a 22-point showing against Portland, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet took over the starting positions, with Xavier Tillman and Oshae Brissett making up part of the difference off the bench.

Although Tillman (7-8-1-1, 27 minutes) and Kornet (12-9-6, 28 minutes) performed admirably, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White were the Celtics’ stars of the evening. With 38 points, the former team captain scored the most points. It was one of those nights when he looked simple hitting 30 points in the NBA. The latter finished with what may have been his greatest shooting performance since joining the Celtics, making 7 of 11 three-pointers in addition to his usual three steals and one block. Keyonte George led the Jazz with 26 points, while Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton chipped in with 21 and 20, respectively.

An exciting first quarter for the Jazz was started by the interesting rookie George, who scored five points, three of which came from outside the three-point arc, dished an assist, and swatted a layup by Payton Pritchard. The rookie guard missed his first shot of the game after nine minutes. A Boston defence that was eager to draw fouls and put itself in the bonus at the halfway mark of the first quarter helped the Jazz along.

But as most teams have found out, their best simply couldn’t compete with the offensive output that Boston can muster at any given time. The Jazz shot 57% from the floor, but the Celtics outscored them with 44 points in the first quarter, 15 of which came from Tatum, and nine three-pointers overall. Boston had the biggest first-quarter scoring margin of the season, 44–33, going into the second quarter.

The Celtics have shown throughout the season that they can develop new aspects of their game when they are without important players. The offense’s main tactic tonight was intense ball movement. They shredded the Utah defence in the first half, dishing out the ball to open shooters and dishing out a total of eighteen assists among all players who touched the floor save Tillman. Holiday was the puppeteer of it all, dishing up eight first-half dimes.

But the Jazz held strong in the second despite the Boston assault early in the game. They quickly closed the gap to within a few possessions of the lead after going on a 15-2 run in the first few minutes of the quarter. The unrelenting Celtics offence ultimately got what was due, responding with a 15-3 run of their own thanks to Holiday’s deft passing. They led 72-57 at the half after outscoring the Jazz throughout the quarter.

White stood out in tonight’s play as he scored more than 20 points on offence for the first time since February 22nd. With a game-high 24 points, White thrived in the Celtics’ drive-and-kick offence, hammering home three-pointers against the Utah defence. His seven three-pointers made in the game tied his season high.

All of them were necessary for the Celtics. The second half was dominated by sudden scoring spurts, and Utah was the next team to score, and they were able to do so within a single-digit range of Boston’s lead once more. With a 12-2 run that lasted through the middle of the quarter, they closed the gap on the Celtics and got within four points. With a hard and-one layup that seemed to finally stop the run, Utah centre Micah Potter answered with a corner three-pointer. There was some breathing room after a late Boston run of five points, but going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were leading 98-91.

With baskets by Tillman and Kornet in the midrange and two more free throws from Kornet, the Celtics’ backup big men managed to bring the lead back into double figures. White extended Boston’s lead to 8 points with his seventh three-pointer of the game, capping an incredible performance that forced Jazz coach Will Hardy to call a timeout.

When play restarted, things for the Jazz did not get any better. With two more baskets from Hauser and two more from Holiday, the Celtics pulled ahead, and Utah’s inability to hit the back of the net persisted. The Jazz were scoreless for the first 6.5 minutes of the quarter, and the Celtics had a 20-point lead when they eventually broke the drought. The rest of the game was meaningless after that.