Boston Celtics vs Utah Jazz: Match Preview and Predictions - 26th February 2020
Match details
Fixture: Boston Celtics vs Utah Jazz
Date & Time: Wednesday, 26 February 2020, 10:30 PM ET.
Venue: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
Last game results
Boston Celtics (40-17): 118-106 victory over the Portland Trailblazers (Tuesday, 25 February 2020)
Utah Jazz (36-21): 111-131 loss to the Phoenix Suns (Monday, 24 February 2020)
Boston Celtics Preview
The Boston Celtics will face the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, February 26th, 2020 after playing Tuesday night against Portland. The Celtics find themselves third overall in the East with a 40-17 record for the season. A concern for the Celtics is the availability of guard Kemba Walker who is listed as day to day with a sore knee and he has missed three straight games.
In their latest game against the Portland Trailblazers, Boston won 118-106 on the strength of Jayson Tatum's 36 points. Jaylen Brown had 24 points in the victory.
Key Player – Jayson Tatum
With Point guard, Kemba Walker injured due to a sore knee, and likely to miss a fourth straight game against Utah, players like Jayson Tatum need to step up for the Boston Celtics and Tatum certainly has.
In his third NBA season, Tatum has produced his best scoring average at 22.9 per game before Tuesday night's game. Tatum's 36 points against Portland went a long way towards securing the Celtics 40th win of the season.
Celtics predicted lineup
Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Daniel Theis
Utah Jazz Preview
Most of the off-season talk in 2019 centered around the roster changes to Western Conference squads like the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets. With a quarter of the 2019-20 season left, the Jazz are fifth in the West at 36-21.
The Jazz lost by 20 to the Phoenix Suns 131-111. The Jazz allowed the Suns to shoot 56 percent for the game and 60 percent from three-point range. They were also outrebounded 38-30 giving up 11 offensive boards. Donovan Mitchell did his best to keep Utah in the game scoring 38 points in 35 minutes.
Key Player – Donovan Mitchell
In his third NBA season, Donovan Mitchell is the offensive leader of a very good Utah Jazz team. He is shooting 45.9 percent on the season and 36.7 percent from behind the three-point arc while averaging 24.4 points per game. Mitchell was on fire in Utah's last contest against Phoenix scoring 38 points and he was 6/9 from beyond the three-point arc.
Jazz predicted lineup
Mike Conley Jr., Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic
Celtics vs Jazz Match Prediction
The Utah Jazz enter this contest on a three-game losing streak. Once seeded as high as second overall, Utah will want to keep pace with the elite teams in the West to secure homecourt advantage for the playoffs.
Utah will need to defend better than they did against Phoenix. The Jazz allowed 11 offensive rebounds, allowed Phoenix to shoot 56 percent for the game and 60 percent on three-point attempts.
Boston may have to survive without Kemba Walker for a while who is resting a sore knee and has missed three straight games. In his absence, Jayson Tatum has stepped up his play scoring 105 points in those three games.
While Boston is 17-12 playing on the road, the Jazz is 20-8 playing at home. Utah will have been resting and preparing for Boston while Boston played Tuesday night. This should be a home win for the Jazz.
Where to watch Mavericks vs Jazz?
You can stream the game live online with NBA League Pass. The game can be watched on TV on Fox Sports-South West, ESPN, and TSN.