Boston 100, Utah 91

Late in posting this because of exams. But I took a much-needed break from studying torts Monday afternoon to watch the game against the Carlos Boozer-less Jazz.

[recap] [box score]

Quick thoughts:

-Career-high 25 points -- to go along with nine rebounds and eight assists -- for Rajon Rondo. What really set Monday night apart from his other great games this year, though, is that we ran the offense through him in the fourth quarter, trusting him with the ball in his hands with the game on the line. That's not really something we've done before, but if we can establish him as fourth option in the clutch, it will make our first three options that much more effective.

-With Eddie House out due to a death in the family, Gabe Pruitt got some run backing up Rondo. The kid responded in a big way, leading our bench scorers with eight points on a couple of threes and a pair of free throws. He played good defense and was the victim of a couple of poor calls (the officiating was as bad as I've seen it this year). I said in the offseason that I didn't think re-signing House or finding another backup point guard was as high a priority as finding a backup center because I had faith in Pruitt, and that hasn't changed, even though there's really no spot in the regular rotation for him, particularly since House has stepped up his game of late. But his jumper, his size, and his D make him a good fill-in for House and Tony Allen when they aren't available, and Doc should remember he's an option when the situation might call for it.

-The Jazz have two of my favorite non-Celtics in the NBA: Paul Millsap and Morris Almond. After starting the previous game as Utah coach Jerry Sloan looks for a solution at shooting guard, Mo got the DNP-CD against us, but Millsap kept the Jazz in the game with a career-high 32 points. I have been high on him since he came out of college, but mainly for his rebounding. I didn't realize that he had developed such a robust offensive game. It was a treat to watch his career day.

Viewing alert: Next game is Wednesday night at Atlanta (7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN). It sounds like Paul Pierce is going to give it a go with the knee injury he suffered in the closing seconds against Utah. If he can't go, we'll need someone to step up if we want our 16th straight win.