BOSTON — Boston’s 18-point loss at Utah in its first game after the All-Star break was a rough one.
It didn’t take very long for the Celtics to learn from their mistakes.
Jae Crowder had 22 points, and the Celtics extended their home win streak to 11 with a 100-95 victory over the Jazz on Monday night.
Isaiah Thomas added 18 points and nine assists for Boston, which shot just 37 percent from the field in a 111-93 loss to Utah on Feb. 19. Avery Bradley also finished with 18 points.
“We’re really locking in, and being resilient and believing in one another. And we’re believing in what coach Brad draws up for us,” Crowder said. “We’ve been doing a great job when it’s crunch time of finding the right shot. That takes lot of togetherness, and I think we’ve shown that. We gotta continue to show that to win games.”
Boston trailed for most of the game, but found its footing in the opening minutes of the fourth and used a 9-3 run to take its first lead of the second half.
The fourth quarter featured eight more lead changes, but the Celtics went in front for good on a 3-pointer by Crowder with less than a minute to play. The shot came off a set play drawn up by Stevens during a timeout.
The ball went into Thomas, who drove into the lane and drew multiple defenders. That created space on the wing for Crowder, the first option on the play.
“Once (the defender) sinks in just a little bit I knew I.T. was going to make the right play. I just wanted a little bit of daylight to let it go,” Crowder said.
Trey Lyles had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, who have dropped three in a row. Shelvin Mack added 18 points. Gordon Hayward finished with 16.
Lyles, a rookie first-round pick, scored a total of 16 points in his previous seven games. But he continually found gaps in the middle of the Celtics’ defense.
Boston won despite being outrebounded 52-47 for the game.
“I think these last two (losses) have been pretty deflating for us,” Hayward said. “We got to find a way to pick ourselves up. We got three more tough games on this trip. Tonight was one where we felt like we were in control early, but just couldn’t get stops.
“We got to learn from it and find a way to pick ourselves up.”
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