Celtics haven't forgotten; neither have Jazz

BOSTON ‘ Last time the Jazz came here, in March, they spoiled Boston’s then 10-game win streak.
The Jazz haven’t forgotten that 110-92 victory, and the Celtics haven’t either. And understandably so: The 18-point defeat was Boston’s worst in its last 106 regular-season games.
‘They didn’t win the game,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers told the Boston Globe on Sunday. ‘They destroyed us. There’s a difference.”
‘That was one game they outplayed us, they outhustled us, they outexecuted us,” Celtic Paul Pierce added in today’s Globe. ‘We have our work cut out for us (tonight). They are a disciplined team, well-coached.”
The Jazz aren’t hanging their hats on it, but the rare Celtics loss in a championship season does give coach Jerry Sloan’s club some degree of hope heading into tonight’s road trip-opening outing.
‘Last year, we showed (Boston), we beat them there, and we played pretty good,” forward Andrei Kirilenko said after Saturday’s home loss to Orlando.
But, Kirilenko hastened to add, ‘It doesn’t mean right now we’re going to win (tonight). No.”
Boston, after all, is riding a 14-game win streak. Their 22-2 start matches the NBA’s best-ever after 24 games. And the Celtics are on pace to win 74 games, two more than the 72-win 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team that opened 23-2.
So just what will it take for the Jazz to spoil all that?
‘We should come with the right set of mind, and play for the win. That’s the main thing,” Kirilenko said. ‘You know, as long as we’re playing hustle and active on the floor, we’re good.”
Or, as shooting guard Kyle Korver said somewhat more succinctly, ‘I think we need to bring the energy.”

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