The Boston Celtics got off to a hot start against the Utah Jazz, but after the first quarter, things got difficult for them. Rudy Gobert's defense impacted their offense. Donovan Mitchell heated up against them in the third quarter and never cooled down.
Heading into the fourth quarter, momentum was on Utah's side, but Boston did what they could to push their way back into the game. The C's cut the lead to four but the Jazz ultimately blew by them in the end by a final score of 122-108.
Celtics-Jazz highlights: Jaylen stars, Kemba struggles in loss
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SIGN UP HERE The loss wraps up the Celtics' five-game West Coast road trip, during which they went 2-3.
Here's what we're overreacting to from the Celtics' loss, which drops them to 12-11 on the season.
1. Jaylen Brown is the Celtics' most important player.
The Celtics were without Brown in their last two games, but he made an early impact against the Jazz. Brown scored the C's first nine points, all of which came from behind the arc.
From there, he would only continue to find success, posting 20 points by halftime on 70 percent shooting and finishing the game with 33 points. Things looked easy when he was on the court and clunky when he was off it, especially the bench-plus-Jayson-Tatum unit in the first half.
Does Brown's offensive explosion make him the best player on the Celtics? One could make that argument given the struggles the team had without him against the Suns. But he and Tatum are truly a one-two punch that will seesaw between being the team's top performer night in and night out.
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On Tuesday night, it was Brown. But in terms of importance, they're about equal. The C's will have issues competing if either is out of the lineup, so declaring Brown the most important based on this two-game sample size seems like a rush to judgment.
Verdict: Overreaction
2. Daniel Theis' 3-point ability is saving the Celtics' two-big lineup.
Early in the season, the C's two-big starting lineup featuring Theis and Tristan Thompson didn't look like it was going to work. The unit lacked floor spacing and it looked like the team would have to send move one of them to a bench role.
However, as the season has gone on, Theis' 3-point shooting has improved. In recent games, he has been hot from beyond the arc and Tuesday was no exception. Theis went 5-of-6 from 3-point range and helped the Celtics stay in the game on several occasions with his makes.
Theis' newfound long-range ability -- he is 14-of-21 from 3-point range in his last eight games -- has surely helped the Celtics from a secondary scoring perspective, but it also has allowed Brad Stevens to use him with guys like Thompson and Robert Williams to the benefit of the team's interior defense and rebounding.
Credit to Theis for developing into a bit of a stretch-four/stretch-five to fill a need for the C's. It has definitely helped the Celtics' versatility and offensive efficiency.
Verdict: Not an overreaction
Report suggest C's will be aggressive ahead of NBA trade deadline
3. The Celtics have a point guard problem.
We don't mean to beat a dead horse here, but Kemba Walker has had a rough start to the season. He has now played in 10 games, but he looks no closer to regaining his form than he did during his first contest of the season.
In his last two outings, Walker's shooting has been particularly abysmal. He has shot 6-of-32 (18.8 percent) in total and 1-of-17 (5.9 percent) from two-point range. His passing was good against the Jazz -- he had a team-high seven assists -- but the C's need more scoring out of him if they're going to compete with the NBA's best teams.
It's not just Walker, though. The team's point guard play has proven shaky in recent games. Jeff Teague played just three minutes against the Jazz and was practically invisible. Just two games after a strong offensive outing against the Clippers, Carsen Edwards racked up a dreaded DNP (coach's decision).
Granted, Marcus Smart and Payton Pritchard have missed time in recent weeks. However, the C's tend to use Pritchard off the ball and even had Tatum running the point with the second unit against the Jazz. And Pritchard didn't do much offensively against the Jazz anyway.
So, if Walker can't regain his form, the C's will have issues at point guard until Smart returns to action. And unless Walker can up his scoring and efficiency, Teague can offer something on offense, or Edwards can play more consistently, this group could end up being a surprising weakness even when Smart comes back.
That said, things will look a lot better when Smart is back on the bench, so we're not sounding the alarm entirely quite yet.
Verdict: Slight overreaction