Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (right) breaks for the basket against Jazz forward Cody Williams in Friday night's NBA game in Salt Lake City.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (right) breaks for the basket against Jazz forward Cody Williams in Friday night's NBA game in Salt Lake City.Rick Egan/Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — With the Celtics all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they have often been asked in recent weeks what they are hoping to accomplish over the final few weeks of the regular season.
And there are goals, such as rest and experiments and whatever, but above anything else, the players and coaches have made it clear that they mostly want to just keep winning. They have done a pretty good job of that recently, and the trend continued with Friday’s comfortable, 121-99, victory over the Jazz, their fourth in a row. Boston improved to 27-7 on the road, perhaps removing unease about the fact that they are unlikely to have homecourt advantage through the playoffs as they did last season.
Kristaps Porzingis had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists to lead the Celtics, and Jayson Tatum added 26 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Jaylen Brown missed his second consecutive game due to a bone bruise on his right knee, and he has already been ruled out for Sunday’s matchup against the Trail Blazers, too.
The Celtics registered 33 second-chance points. Collin Sexton had 30 points to lead Utah, which committed 17 turnovers.
The Jazz have just 16 wins this season and are probably more focused on draft lottery ping-pong balls than improving their record. So there were even more Celtics fans than normal here Friday.
They roared when Tatum simply walked onto the court for pregame warmups, and he gave them plenty more to cheer about soon after that. The All-Star forward hit a pair of early 3-pointers and the Celtics connected on six in the first six minutes, helping them march to a 22-12 advantage.
The run of long-range darts ended in an unusual way. Tatum lost the ball while dribbling behind his back on a fast break. Two Jazz players were there to scoop it up, but Tatum inadvertently flicked it over his head with his heel and it ended up landing in his hands for a layup.
It was such a unique play that it was even shown several times on the arena’s video board, a rarity for an opponent’s basket.
Tatum added a more conventional finish when he came up with a steal and a dunk that gave the Celtics a 29-16 lead. On another steal he flipped the ball over his head to Hauser for a 22-footer. Tatum finished the opening quarter with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and the Celtics took a 35-21 lead to the second.
With Tatum on the bench to start the second quarter the Jazz chipped away at what was once a 17-point deficit and pulled within 39-32 just over three minutes into the quarter.
But a Hauser 3-pointer helped steady Boston, and its work on the offensive glass continued to give it a significant boost. Pritchard snagged an offensive board on a Hauser miss and found Porzingis, who had 21 first-half points, for a successful 3-pointer. Pritchard then hit a 3 of his own, giving the Celtics three of them over a 65-second span. Boston had 19 second-chance points in the opening half.
The Celtics continued to generate good looks from beyond the arc, but a cold spell near the end of the half helped the Jazz pull within 60-51 at the break.
The Celtics could not slow Sexton all night, and he was particularly damaging early in the third quarter. His third 3-pointer of the period pulled the Jazz within 69-65. Porzingis went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 6:48 left, and a Keyonte George 3-pointer on the ensuing possession made it 71-69.
Coach Joe Mazzulla called timeout, and the Celtics returned to the court with a different level of defensive urgency. They forced four turnovers in five Jazz possessions, and almost instantly unfurled a stabilizing 13-0 run that included a pair of Hauser 3-pointers.
Pritchard then scored eight points over a 75-second stretch in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 105-87 and all but put away Utah.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.