After consecutive games/losses to Golden State and Cleveland, the Celtics got to pick on someone from their own sphere tonight.
And despite the fact they couldn’t hit the harbor from Rowe’s Wharf most of the game, the Celts hit the shot that counted.
Tyler Zeller took an inbounds feed from Marcus Smart and beat the buzzer — and the Utah Jazz — with a layup, giving the Celtics an 85-84 victory at the Garden.
The Celts were clinging to a one-point lead in the final minute when Isaiah Thomas missed a trey and Jae Crowder’s follow-up was blocked.
Trey Burke missed at the other end, and Utah got the ball with 9.6 on the clock. Gordon Hayward drove right, pulled up and hit a 14-footer with 1.7 seconds left.
Smart then found Zeller for the winner.
The Celtics pulled ahead with a 7-2 run in the third quarter, establishing a lead they would give up for less than two seconds. And the Jazz did not go quietly at all. The visitors were within three after a Derrick Favors jumper with 3:42 left.
Then the Celts took advantage of two mismatches — with Bostonians being the smaller man in each case.
First, the 5-foot-9 Thomas found himself guarded by the 6-10 Favors up top. He looked over the situation and drilled a 3-point facial.
A few moments later, 6-6 Crowder came over to block 7-1 Rudy Gobert just a few feet from the rim. Thomas scored on a short jumper at the other end to put the C’s ahead, 81-73.
But Utah had more left. Burke hit two free throws, Hayward made a trey, and, after two Thomas foul shots, Rodney Hood and Burke scored from the lane.
But Zeller got the last word.
Brad Stevens was referring to the Celtics’ most recent several days when he said before the game, “You’re going to have some ups and downs, but you’d better be able to get over the downs pretty quickly.”
He was speaking of three straight wins followed by a tough loss to the Warriors and an absolute blowout road defeat at the hands of the Cavaliers the night before.
But the coach could easily have been talking about what was to transpire a couple hours later.
The Celts had a down, an up and another down in the opening quarter against the Jazz. They missed nine of their first 11 shots, then arose to hit four in a row and five of their next seven. The C’s clanged four of their last six attempts from the floor and were outscored 8-4 over the last 2:57 to fall behind, 19-18, after a quarter in which they shot just 37.5 percent.
That would seem like the good old days, based on what the Celts did in the next period.
On the way to a 27.3 percent inning, the evidently nearsighted locals failed to find the strings on their first seven shots, part of a 2-for-15 start. The C’s even missed three of their four free throws in the span.
Even more amazing is that the furthest they fell behind was 30-24.
Crowder, the only Celt with a decent fix on the basket, helped get things tighter with a 3-pointer and a fast break layup, the latter shot tying things with 1:28 left.
But Trevor Booker scored inside on the next possession, and after two Shamrock misses, Utah was going for the frame’s last shot when Smart got in the way.
The rookie stole a Hayward pass and drove all the way to score while being fouled. He completed the three-point play with eight-tenths of a second left, giving his troops a 34-33 lead at the break.
The Celtics shot 15-for-46 (32.6 percent) in the half. Take away Crowder’s 6-for-8, and they were a frightening 9-for-38.
The C’s and Jazz were a combined 28-for-81 from the floor.
After going for 18 points in the first quarter and 16 in the second, the Celtics fairly exploded for 27 in the third.
Avery Bradley shook off his 1-for-5 start and scored 11 in the period (all in the first 3:11), with another nine coming from Thomas.
The Celts led by as many as seven and took a 61-55 advantage into the last quarter.