Boston — At age 36, Gary Payton no longer puts together long stretches of outstanding games. On Friday night, though, he played as if he were in his prime.

Payton scored a season-high 27 points, matched his season-high of 11 assists and led a Boston Celtics running game that beat the Utah Jazz 114-106.

"He was awesome," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "Tonight was Gary's night."

After a disappointing season with the Los Angeles Lakers in which he took a backseat to superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, Payton was acquired by the Celtics and is thriving as the leader of their improved uptempo attack.

"I was pushing the ball and everybody was getting out" on the fastbreak, Payton said. "We distributed the ball very well and I think we kept everybody in the flow. So when everybody touches the ball then we're a good basketball team."

Utah's only lead was 2-0 and Boston led by at least eight points for the final 40 minutes.

The Celtics hit 56 percent of their shots to take a 58-40 lead at halftime and stretched that to as much as 21, leading 84-63 on two free throws by Marcus Banks with 1:36 left in the third quarter. The closest Utah came after that was eight points, the first time on Carlos Boozer's layup with 3:56 to play that made it 97-89.

"The Celtics were just much more interested in doing the right things," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "We had moments tonight where we looked so disinterested. Guys were driving to the basket and we would just let them go."

Boston outscored Utah 56-38 in the paint and won for the third time in four games with the only loss coming by one point, 100-99, to Denver on Wednesday night when Paul Pierce missed a shot at the buzzer. Utah played its third game in four nights and is 2-9 in its last 11.

For the Celtics, Mark Blount with 18 points and Raef LaFrentz with 10 points and 10 rebounds were among seven players in double figures.

"Offensively, we were as good as you can get," Rivers said. "That's the type of ball movement and basketball we've got to play every night."

Utah was led by Boozer with 25 points and 12 rebounds, Mehmet Okur with 21 points and Carlos Arroyo with 20.

"It's hard to come back when you're down 20 points, especially in their home," Arroyo said.

Okur's 23-foot jumper opened the scoring and gave the Jazz their only lead. Blount tied the game with a hook shot and Jiri Welsch's 3-pointer put Boston ahead to stay.

"We couldn't guard anyone," Okur said.

The Celtics led 19-10 before going on an 8-2 run that built its biggest lead of the first quarter, 29-12. Utah scored the last five points of the period, but Boston started the second with a 9-2 surge and took its biggest lead of the half, 38-19 on two free throws by Tony Allen.

"Everybody runs against us," Sloan said. "We have been inefficient after made baskets and our free throws."

Boston was coasting along before Utah started chipping away at a 21-point deficit.

Baskets by Raja Bell and Arroyo began a mild spurt in which Utah outscored Boston 26-13. Arroyo had nine points in the comeback that cut the margin to 97-89. It was 104-96 with 1:49 remaining before the Celtics began to close out Utah.

Payton hit a three-point play and Ricky Davis added two free throws for a 109-96 lead. The Jazz outscored the Celtics 8-3 the rest of the way with Boozer scoring four of their points, but never threatened the lead in the final minutes.

Notes: Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar sat courtside. ... Howard Eisley's 10 assists for Utah were his most of the year. ... Utah had 17 offensive rebounds to eight for Boston, but the Celtics led 12-11 in second-chance points.