Rajon Rondo had six points, five assists and three rebounds as the Boston Celtics trail the Utah Jazz, 46-44, at the half from the TD Garden Wednesday night in Boston, MA.
For the first three minutes of the game, Boston's defense looked to be intact as the previous defensive force they have been known as over the past few years.
Mere minutes later and the Jazz were dominating the paint, running in transition and moving the ball to open shooters, making the Celtics look like the aging group that sleep walked through the first few games of the season. Through the first eight minutes of the first quarter, Utah scored all 14 of their points in the paint and were killing Boston on the boards.
This forced Celtics' head coach Doc Rivers to roll with his bench to close the first quarter, trailing the Jazz, 25-20.
Leandro Barbosa would lead a furious 9-2 run, in which he scored seven points over four minutes to get the Celtics back into the game to start the second. The Celtics and Jazz would trade leads throughout the first six minutes of the second quarter as the primary Boston starters rested and Barbosa, along with Jeff Green, carried the offense. By the time Rondo checked back into the game, the Boston defense had turned up it's intensity yet again and it's offense was hitting on all cylinders.
Rondo wouldn't get his first assist of the game until the 6:05 mark in the second quarter. Rondo would finish the first half with five assists. He is attempting to continue a streak of 31-straight games in which he has 10 or more assists.
Utah out-rebounded Boston 24-17 in the first half, including a whopping eight offensive boards. The Celtics shot 47 percent from the field, while the Jazz knocked down 42 percent of their shots. Barbosa and Green led Boston with seven points each in the first half, while Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors each had 10 points for Utah.
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