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Boston Celtics close out road trip with comfortable win over Utah Jazz, 123-107

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Boston Celtics close out road trip with comfortable win over Utah Jazz, 123-107


Though they faced a brief spot of trouble in early March with losses against Cleveland and Denver, the Boston Celtics are returning home as winners. Following consecutive wins against Phoenix and Portland, they rounded out their West Coast road trip with a 123-107 win over the Utah Jazz. They’ll take the court against Phoenix again on Thursday enjoying a three-game win streak.

Absent the services of Jaylen Brown (sacroiliac strain), Kristaps Porzingis (hamstring) and Al Horford (toe), the Celtics found themselves more shorthanded than they have in recent weeks. Sam Hauser, fresh off a 22-point performance against Portland, and Luke Kornet assumed the vacated spots in the starting lineup, with Xavier Tillman and Oshae Brissett picking up some of the slack off the bench.

Kornet (12-9-6, 28 minutes) and Tillman (7-8-1-1, 27 minutes) acquitted themselves quite well, but for the Celtics, the night belonged to Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. The former led the team in scoring, one of those nights where he makes scoring 30 in the NBA look easy — he finished with 38. The latter recorded perhaps his best shooting night since joining the Celtics, connecting on 7-of-11 three-point shots, while adding a customary three steals and one block. For the Jazz, Keyonte George scored 26, while Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton added 21 and 20, respectively.

The intriguing rookie George drove the action early in the first quarter, connecting five buckets — three of which came from behind the three-point arc — dishing an assist, and swatting a Payton Pritchard layup to kick-start an energetic opening quarter for the Jazz. It took nine minutes for the young guard to miss his first shot of the game. Helping the Jazz along was a foul-happy Boston defense that put itself in the bonus at the midway point of the first quarter.

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As most teams have discovered, though, their best wasn’t a match for what the Boston offense can put on the table at any given moment. The Celtics piled up 44 points in the first, — 15 from Tatum — and connected on nine three-pointers as a team, outscoring the Jazz despite Utah shooting 57% from the field. Boston entered the second quarter leading 44-33, their highest scoring first quarter of the season.

All season long, the Celtics have seemed to unlock new wrinkles to their game when missing key contributors. Tonight, the offense operated around extreme ball movement. They piled up 18 assists collectively in the first half, with every player to touch the court besides Tillman contributing at least one, pinging the ball out to open shooters and dicing apart the Utah defense. Puppeteering it all was Holiday, who dished eight first half dimes.

Despite the early Boston onslaught, though, the Jazz held tough in the second. They ripped off a 15-2 run in the early minutes of the quarter to rapidly pull back within a couple possessions of the lead. Undeterred, the relentless Celtics offense found its due eventually; they responded with a 15-3 run of their own, behind the slick passing of Holiday. They outscored the Jazz for the quarter, and hit the halftime break enjoying a 72-57 lead.

One emergent factor in tonight’s action was White, who eclipsed the 20-point mark offensively for the first time since February 22nd. White totaled 24 points on the night, thriving within the Celtics’ drive-and-kick attack by raining catch-and-shoot threes on the Utah defense. His seven made three-pointers tied his most in a game this season.

The Celtics needed every one of them. Abrupt bursts of scoring continued to dominate the proceedings into the second half, and next up was Utah, who once again managed to rally back within a single-digit margin of Boston’s lead. They put the Celtics on their heels behind a 12-2 run that spanned the midway section of the quarter, pulling within four points. Tatum appeared to finally cut the run off with a tough and-one layup, but Utah center Micah Potter responded with a corner three-pointer. A late 5-0 Boston run created a bit of breathing room, but this was a different game entering the fourth quarter, with the Celtics leading 98-91.

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The Celtics’ reserve bigs inched the lead back into double digits, as Kornet connected on a pair of free throws and Tillman hit a midrange jumper. White continued his electric night by cashing in on his seventh three-pointer of the evening, extending a 8-0 Boston run and forcing a timeout from Jazz coach Will Hardy.

Matters did not improve for the Jazz when play resumed. The Celtics tacked on a two-pointer from Hauser and a pair of threes from Holiday, and Utah continued to struggle to find the bottom of the net. The Jazz went scoreless through the first 6.5 minutes of the quarter, and when they finally broke the drought, the Celtics led by 20. From there, the conclusion of the game was perfunctory.

Next up, the Celtics return home to face off with the Phoenix Suns for the second time in a week, this Thursday at 7:30 PM EST on TNT.



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Portion of Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road will close nightly through August – The Boston Globe

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Portion of Storrow Drive, Soldiers Field Road will close nightly through August – The Boston Globe


An inbound stretch of Storrow Drive and Soldiers Field Road will be closed each night through August for tunnel repairs, officials announced.

Starting Monday, the closures will begin at 8 p.m. and last until 5 a.m., state officials said.

Road closures begin at North Harvard Street in Allston and stretch along the Charles River Esplanade to Mugar Way in Boston, near the Hatch Memorial Shell, officials said.

Traffic will be detoured into Cambridge over the Anderson Bridge, along Memorial Drive, and then be routed into Boston over the Longfellow Bridge.

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The closures will allow ongoing repairs to the Storrow Drive Tunnel in the Back Bay. The work is the first phase of a two-stage project to extend the lifespan of the tunnel, which carries roughly 50,000 drivers to and from downtown Boston daily.

The outbound portion of the tunnel and accompanying roadways will not be affected.

State transportation officials said changes to the work schedule will be made when necessary to minimize impacts during major local events at TD Garden, Fenway Park, or during the FIFA World Cup and 250th anniversary celebrations scheduled for this summer.

Additional changes may be made without notice due to weather.

Transportation officials have not specified when the closures will end.

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Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.





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Ole Miss softball to play Boston in NCAA tournament Lubbock Regional

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Ole Miss softball to play Boston in NCAA tournament Lubbock Regional


This story has been updated with new information

OXFORD — Ole Miss softball is back in the NCAA Tournament after making the Women’s College World Series a season ago.

The Rebels (34-24) will play Boston (46-13) on May 15 (1 p.m. CT, ESPNU) in the Lubbock Regional. Ole Miss is the No. 2 seed in the regional, and Boston is the No. 3.

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Texas Tech (52-6), the No. 11 overall seed and regional host, will face No. 4 Marist (37-19).

The Rebels went 6-18 in SEC play this season, and have a largely new-look roster from the team that made the WCWS last season.

Ole Miss beat South Carolina and Tennessee in the SEC Tournament to improve its seed.

Freshman Madi George has burst onto the scene in the SEC. The first-year infielder leads Ole Miss with a .385 batting average. She has a team-high 21 home runs and 58 RBIs.

Seniors Emilee Boyer (3.86 ERA), Kyra Aycock (3.97 ERA) and junior Lily Whitten (3.04 ERA) are the primary options in the circle for coach Jamie Trachsel.

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Trachsel is in her sixth season leading the Ole Miss program. She led the Rebels to their first WCWS appearance in program history in 2025.

What to know about Boston, Texas Tech and Marist in Lubbock Regional

Boston entered the Patriot League Tournament as the top seed and the Terriers delivered. Boston beat No. 2 Colgate 12-1, becoming the second team in Patriot League history to four-peat as conference champions. Boston is on a 12-game winning streak. Kylie Doherty leads the team with a .396 batting average and 26 home runs.

Texas Tech made the 2025 WCWS championship series, losing to Texas in three games.

Texas Tech lost just three Big 12 games this season but lost in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. The Red Raiders are a strong threat to get to the WCWS again. There are four Texas Tech batters hitting over .400. Star pitcher NiJaree Canady leads the Red Raiders with a 1.24 ERA. She has 209 strikeouts.

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Marist plays in the MAAC and won the conference tournament. Marist split a two-game series against South Carolina early in the season. Ava Metzger (12-3, 2.51 ERA) and Peyton Pusey (.404 batting average) lead the team.

Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_



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‘This is really just the start of it all’: Mojo Boston makes splashy debut at City Hall Plaza – The Boston Globe

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‘This is really just the start of it all’: Mojo Boston makes splashy debut at City Hall Plaza – The Boston Globe


Attendees held umbrellas as The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe

Mojo, a music brand and concert organizer, was founded in 2021 by Charley Blacker, Alex Parker, and Emily Donovan while they were students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The trio of friends decided to create Mojo out of their shared love for music and house shows.

“We saw there were so many local musicians that were so talented, but they didn’t have the platform we thought they really deserved,” Blacker told the Globe during Saturday’s festivities. “So we thought if we could do the behind-the-scenes work of organizing photographers and [provide] a social media platform, we could give these musicians the platform they deserve.”

Attendees danced as The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe

Five years later, the team behind Mojo is sticking to their mission, tackling their biggest venue yet with this weekend’s event at City Hall Plaza, which previously served as the original location for Boston Calling before it moved to the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston. Boston Calling announced last year that it is taking a one-year hiatus in 2026, with plans to return in 2027.

In addition to getting the chance to work on such a big event with his best friends, Blacker hopes Mojo Boston can help “lead to a lot more opportunities for local music.”

People browsed food vendors at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe

There was a wide range of genres represented at Saturday’s event, from the pop-rock stylings of The Bends to house and garage music from DJ AC Slater. Prior to the Boston debut, Mojo brought a festival to Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley in April and returned to Amherst later that month to host another event.

Mojo Boston attendees and former UMass Amherst students Emily Bowler and Max Debeau have been familiar with Mojo since its inception, watching the organization go from hosting basement shows to full scale music festivals. Debeau noted how many of the acts at Saturday’s event have worked with Mojo in the past, performing at UMass and other shows around the Bay State.

“To see it all come together has been great,” Debeau said. “This is the stage that they all deserve.”

“It’s crazy how quickly they were able to erect something so amazing,” Bowler added.

Amanda Giroux danced away from the stage while The Bends performed at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe

Formed in New Bedford, the band Autumn Drive was one of 18 acts that performed at Mojo Boston, and they are no strangers to a Mojo show.

“We’ve done, I think, every single Mojo that there is, so we’re very tight with them,” said guitarist and singer Charlie Gamache. “When we found out they were doing a big festival [in Boston], I was like, ‘We want in no matter what.’”

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The band emphasized how much their relationship with Mojo has meant to them over the years, with Autumn Drive drummer Joe Gauvin praising the organization for “always putting us in front of a crowd that’s there to see music and hear us.”

Michael Asulin, of Stoughton, and Jackie Ludicke, of Miami, Fla., talked while wearing ponchos at Mojo Boston on Saturday.Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for The Boston Globe

From a makeshift stage out of wooden pallets in his basement to Boston’s City Hall Plaza, Blacker is is proud of Mojo’s success and is already looking ahead at what’s to come.

“This is really just the start of it all,” said Blacker. “We have very lofty ambitions and goals, and we have nothing but confidence in our ability to accomplish everything we set out to do.”


Gitana Savage can be reached at gitana.savage@globe.com. Follow her on X @gitana_savage.





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