BOSTON -- After the Celtics dropped their third straight home game Friday night, losing 99-94 to the Utah Jazz, coach Brad Stevens tried to downplay his team's struggles on a night the Celtics shot just 37.2 percent overall and a dismal 10-for-36 from 3-point range.

Marcus Smart disagreed.

"Our effort was s---," the Celtics guard said. "We gave them the first couple punches and then, after that, our effort died down. We picked it up towards the end, but it was too late at that time."

One thing is clear: the Celtics stunk offensively in this one. While at least Jazz guard Mike Conley, who finished with 25 points and five assists while going 6-for-10 from 3-point range, got hot for Utah, the Celtics had no one to match him at the other end.

Smart finished with 29 points, but shot 9-for-23 from the field. He, Kemba Walker (5-for-17) and Jayson Tatum (7-for-19) combined to shoot 21-for-59 -- 35.6 percent. The Celtics were repeatedly stymied inside by the All-Star center Rudy Gobert, the NBA's two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and failed to make Utah pay from deep as a result.

"We definitely couldn't make a shot," Smart said. "They did a great job of coming out and executing all the way through, and that really put us on our heels. So we've got to move on from it. Game's over. Give credit to Utah. They came in and did their job, and we just have to bounce back on Sunday."

The Celtics have several holes in their rotation, from an offensive standpoint, when they are at full strength. When they are playing without core pieces -- like they were Friday as both Jaylen Brown (hamstring) and Gordon Hayward (knee) sat out for the second straight game) -- those issues become even more pronounced.

A bench full of dull offensive weapons cost Boston Friday. Brad Wanamaker was -25 in 26 minutes, and missed two absolutely wide open 3-pointers in the final two minutes when Boston had a chance to get to within four on back-to-back possessions. Enes Kanter played just five first half minutes and was a minus-13. Romeo Langford was -16 in his own five minute stint. Grant Williams played 17 minutes and missed all three shots he took.

Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson outscored Boston's bench by himself (17-13) and the Jazz's second unit as a whole outscored the Celtics by a count of 39-13 -- more than enough to tip the balance in Utah's favor.

Still, Stevens dismissed the idea that bench scoring is a problem for the Celtics, saying that if Boston was healthy -- and Smart was back to his expected role coming off the bench -- things would be fine.

"We've had a number of our guys play well off the bench," Stevens said. "And we've never really had our full bench intact because we've never had our full starters intact. Hard to know. When we're full we'll see how it looks and see how it goes, but it is what it is. Thought we had a lot of good things tonight. Just didn't score well enough.

"Some of that was decision-making at the rim, where they did a great job, some of it was excellent pressure defense by them, and some of it was missed open shots. Just part of it. I don't want to make any generalizations about our bench until I see our whole team moving forward."

Adding to Boston's issues is that Walker is playing on a minutes limit as he continues to return from left knee soreness that cost him the first five games after the All-Star Break.

"It's tough," Walker said of the minutes limit. "Obviously I'm just coming in and out the game pretty fast. But it'll come, I guess. Just gotta keep working through it and trying my hardest not to frustrate myself."

Walker's minutes limit is also causing issues for his teammates, in terms of trying to fit in around him.

"Oh yeah, by far," Smart said. "With the talent that we have, Kemba on a minutes restriction, it's tough to really get him into a groove because he's coming out as soon as he starts to get his groove. And he's cooling off, then has to start back up.

"That's tough for any player. Kemba's a great player, but that's still tough on you, especially coming out and sitting those many games and now you're trying to get in that rhythm, your mind's in it, and now you're mind's playing tricks on you because you're missing shots, now you're thinking things you shouldn't think. And it's tough.

"But nonetheless, Kemba is a great player. We're going to figure it out."

Boston is now two full games behind the Toronto Raptors for second place in the Eastern Conference -- positioning both teams are desperate to get in order to have home court advantage in what projects to be a brutal battle in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But for Boston to put itself in that kind of position, it's going to have to get back on track starting Sunday against the Oklahoma City Thunder -- potentially with both Brown and Hayward watching from the sidelines again.

"We may not those two guys on Sunday," Stevens said. "Certainly not Jaylen and who knows what crops up between now and then? That's the way the league works. You play as well as you can and the guys that played a lot of minutes did a lot of good things and have played great minutes for us all year."