NBA

Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson carry Jazz past Celtics

Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points and Jordan Clarkson added 20 off the bench to lead the Utah Jazz to a 117-109 victory over the host Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.

Rudy Gobert had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for the Jazz, who swept the season series against Boston. Mike Conley chipped in 17 points and five assists.

Jayson Tatum scored 29 points and Jaylen Brown added 28 to lead the Celtics. Daniel Theis had 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, while Robert Williams III chipped in 14 points and nine boards off the bench.

The Celtics made a final push and cut the Jazz lead to 104-101 on a jumper from Brown with 2:35 remaining. That's as close as Boston would get in the final minutes. Mitchell buried a 3-pointer and Gobert followed with a pair of free throws to put Utah up 109-101 with 50.5 seconds left.

Utah committed five turnovers over a three-minute stretch early in the first quarter, allowing Boston to take control out of the gate. The Celtics ripped off a 12-0 run capped by a jumper from Brown to sprint out to a 16-5 lead.

The Jazz erased the deficit behind a 15-4 run. Joe Ingles sparked the surge with a pair of 3-pointers. Conley scored a floater on Utah's opening possession of the second quarter to punctuate the spurt and tie it at 22-22. Clarkson scored three 3-pointers over four possessions to finally give the Jazz a 36-33 lead.

Ingles and Clarkson combined for 25 points and seven made 3-pointers before halftime.

Boston shot the lights out in the second quarter to keep pace with Utah. The Celtics went 14-of-19 from the field during the quarter but still trailed 54-53 going into halftime after Mitchell scored all nine of his first-half points over the final three minutes of the half.

Tatum converted a four-point play to highlight an 11-2 run that put Boston up 79-77 heading into the fourth quarter. Utah answered with a 13-2 run capped by a three-point play from Gobert to surge ahead 90-81.

—Field Level Media/Reuters