Ray Allen scored 10 points in the final seven minutes to lead the Boston Celtics to a 107-102 win over the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake. Allen finished the game with a team-high 25 that included hitting 5-8 from beyond the arc. Paul Pierce added 21, 11 of which came in perfect shooting at the foul line. (The Jazz still love to foul!)
Al Jefferson, a former Celtic, led the Jazz with 28 points and 19 rebounds, a monstrous performance. Derrick Favors had a solid fourth quarter, with two exclamatory putback dunks, but Boston kept pressing until Allen came in starting reeling off the points. Jefferson and Paul Millsap tried to answer, but couldn't keep up. Utah was really, really overmatched on the perimeter, even with Devin Harris.
If there's concern for Boston, it's that Jefferson gave the team such fits. Nenad Krstic struggled mightily on defense all game, and Doc Rivers turned a small, offense-minded (as much as the Celtics get offense-minded) line-up down the stretch, with Kevin Garnett at center and Glen Davis at power forward. It's not a rare line-up for Rivers, and it really hadn't been during Kendrick Perkins' rehab. But it won't work against some opponents, and Jefferson arguably showed that it's like playing with fire against any team with two solid scoring big men.