The Boston Celtics have had trouble against zone defenses in recent years. It doesn’t look like a problem with this year’s team.

On Friday night, Boston destroyed Utah’s zone by scoring 107 points in the first three quarters on their way to a 126-97 win at TD Garden.

The C’s scored over 120 points against a zone defense for the second game in a row. They did the same thing in a 127-123 loss in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.

So, what helped them get past the problem that had been stopping them for so long?

He scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and gave out five passes in less than 25 minutes. “Learning from it,” Jayson Tatum said. “We learned from the things that went wrong with us last year that kept us from reaching our main goal.”

That and the fact that Kristaps Porzingis was added also help.

He’s 7 feet 4 inches tall, so we couldn’t throw the ball to him. Then they switched, and he made the right play. It’s hard because he can score every time. And of course, how (Derrick) White has been playing, plus Jrue (Holiday), helps. We now have a lot more tools. But I believe KP is the main reason why it’s tough to keep an eye on us.

It was scary inside for both KP and JT, where they made contact at an amazing rate. Even though neither played more than 27 minutes, they went to the free-throw line 26 times.

It had been six months since Glen Davis and Paul Pierce made at least 10 free throws in the same game as their Celtics teammates. They were the first pair to do that since that date. It’s the first time in Celtics history that KP and JT have done that while playing less than 27 minutes each.

“You have to read and try to exploit some of the weak spots, and I think we did a pretty good job today,” Porzingis said about how to hit the zone. That zone was weird, and OKC’s zone was weird too, I’m not going to lie. Not like the standard zone we played against in our last two games. But I think we did a good job of breaking it down and getting open looks. Now we just need to make the shots. And I believe the answers our coaches give us for those zones are good. “Joe Mazzulla is doing a great job, end of story.”

Tatum first talked about how he has learned to change over the years and how this ability to adapt to different defenses is related to that. The Jazz, for example, kept Tatum in a tight spot when the Celtics played in Utah in March and only let him score 15 points on 12 field goal tries. They missed 20 free throws less than they did Friday night (36), but the Celtics still lost 118–117.

The game on Friday was different because “We didn’t lose rhythm,” Mazzulla said. We can play a little faster now that our squad is a little different and our skills are different from what they were before. And KP is good in the paint, so we can get the ball there… I believe it’s just the four of us making plays and being quick to move. And I think Jayson’s ability to wait it out and see the two-on-ones. I believe Jaylen Brown can play quickly. We saw Derrick and Jrue being bold with catch-and-shoot shots and driving to the basket. Then just moving all the time. I was happy with how we dealt with their defense. Our beat didn’t change.

When an opponent changes how they defend, it can be hard for some teams to adapt. But the Celtics team likes the range because it keeps them on their toes.

“We want to keep getting different looks,” Porzingis said, “so we can learn everything and know what to do in every situation.”

The Celts have shown that they have a lot of tools in this case. They’ve been too fast for the other team’s defense lately—they’ve scored at least 120 points in nine straight games, which is a club record.