POST GAME PORTLAND - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Beats Trail Blazers, Stretches Win Streak To Four
This was a close one throughout


NESNby Abigail Adams

Tuesday was one of the closest games the Celtics have played in a while.

And in the end, Boston emerged victorious.

The Celtics stretched their win streak to four games with a 116-115 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center. Boston now is 2-0 on its west coast swing.

Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 32 points. He had nine rebounds and five assists as well.

All of Boston’s starters scored double figures once again. Kemba Walker and Tristan Thompson contributed eight rebounds apiece. Walker and Smart each had seven assists.

The Celtics improved to 29-26 while the Blazers dipped to 31-23.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jaylen Brown
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Robert Williams

Momentum swung in both directions early.

Boston took a 14-11 lead less than four minutes into the game, with Williams scoring six of the Celtics’ points. But Portland put on the jets and went on a 12-0 run over the next three minutes.

The Celtics outscored the Blazers 9-2 in the next three minutes, but Portland managed to take back its lead and push it to eight by the end of the quarter.

Walker posted an impressive 12 points in the first 12 minutes on top of five rebounds and two assists. Williams (eight points, two rebounds, one assist) was a big help on offense while Thompson was a monster at the rim.


The Celtics had 10 assists on 10 field goals in the first. Boston shot at 43.5%. though Portland was more accurate at 56.5%.

STILL BACK-AND-FORTH
Neither team was able to maintain a lead in the second quarter.

The Blazers held a slight advantage over the Celtics until midway through the frame. The teams traded leads, but Portland ultimately entered halftime up 60-57 thanks to a quick 9-0 run.

The Celtics hit 20 of 49 shots attempted (40.8%) in the first half to the Blazers’ 21-of-43 (48.8%). Boston was much more successful from 3-point range than it was Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, completing 8-of-18 attempts (44.4%).

Carmelo Anthony looked like his younger self in the second, banking 12 points in just eight minutes.


Meanwhile, Enes Kanter had four points, six rebounds and an assist in his first minutes against his former team.

TIGHT GAME
The Blazers had a slight edge for most of the third but wound up trading leads with the Celtics yet again.

Boston’s resilience remained on full display as Portland tried to put things away. Tatum heated up in the final five minutes of the frame and wound up with 17 third-quarter points on 6-of-8 shooting.


The Celtics entered the fourth up 92-87 courtesy of a 10-2 run led by Tatum. All of Boston’s starters had scored double figures to this point.

It was not the Blazers’ accuracy that led them to lose their lead. Oddly enough, Boston’s five extra completed free throws pushed it over the pot.

The teams were relatively even shooting-wise through the first three quarters. Both hit 33 shots from the field, 11 of them beyond the arc and missed five free throws.

HOW ABOUT YOUR NAIL-BITTER
It was the Celtics’ game to lose, but they hung on.

Boston’s lead hovered around eight for much of the quarter, but Portland made it a one-point game with just under three minutes to play.

A big layup by Williams made it a 3-point game, but Damian Lillard hit an even bigger triple to tie it up at 109 with 2:03 left.

Portland went up one with 1:01 remaining on a C.J. McCollum three. But Tatum gave Boston the lead back and then some with two free throws and a three of his own late to make it a four-point game.


The parade of threes continued with Norman Powell’s shot with 5.4 second on the clock. This trimmed Boston’s lead to one, and that’s where it would remain.

The Celtics went on to win 116-115.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Siri, define “hustle.”


UP NEXT
The next stop on the Celtics’ road trip is Los Angeles, where they will play the Lakers on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 10 p.m. ET.

This version of the Celtics 2021 is playing winning bball. Kemba is on fire, and the entire team is cooking. Wow.

RWill was huge, 2 big baskets in crunch time right when we needed them. Tatum with a monster 3rd quarter and showing the clutch gene at the end. Contributions and unselfish play from everyone in a great team win vs a quality opponent. Smart made so many incredible plays that only he makes. Jaylen was steady and perfect compliment to Jayson. Kemba hot early and cooled off, but didn’t keep forcing things, let the game come to him and had some nice passes.

Boy when Tatum gets in his zone, he is a certified wrecking crew that can attack in so many ways, great to see him clinch it at the end. He is finally starting to get some calls on his drives. Definitely a game he and the team can build on, we have a lot of fight now and look exactly like the team we envisioned at the beginning of the year and can’t wait to get Frenchy, our sniper back.

Only was able to catch the first half.  It was very tight through then.

Portland leads the league in fewest turnovers with 11/game.  They had 14 last night.  

Another quality win over another quality opponent.  Portland is in 6th place in the WC, they were only 1 game in the loss column behind #5 LAL.  With the Lakers playing the Charlotte Hornets last night beating us was important to the Blazers, and they couldn't.

Kemba with 21 points.  When he plays well we are very tough.  As goes Kemba so goes us, which is scary given his physical condition etal.




https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401307623







Marcus Smart doing a lot of Smarty things...



Bob


.

Here are some reasons why the Celtics have strung 4 wins in a row. There is a reason and it called a new basketball strategy and a kick in the ass for some players and coaches.

1) Tatum took Perks challenge and criticism of him and used that as a motivation to lift his game to another dimension. Before that, Tatums game was treading downward despite the numbers posted. He had no energy and his decision making was poor. KUDO'S TO HIM FOR DOING SO!

2) You now have a starting center that can play above the rim both offensively and defensively. This has created a new dimension especially offensively for the Celtics. Notice that the ball more and more is going through Williams hands usually at the top of the key, setting picks for a player who will look to cut to the basket with the ball. The defense usually picks up that cutting player which turns into a block shot or best a reset and run another play. Now you have Williams either trailing the play or deep under the basket where now the Celtic cutting to the basket has 2 options, drive and try to score or a toss up in the air to Williams for a slam dunk. Before this we never had that 2nd option available to us with Theis. ​

3) We now have an offense that is in constant motion moving around on the court, cutting in and out of the paint and the big thing...........BALL MOVEMENT! Defenses now cannot set up easily to defend the Celtics.

4) The press as well as Mike Gorman himself were critical of the Celtic play for a while. Both media and fan pressure collectively with heavy criticism brought change. You have to be blind not to recognize that the basketball strategy 3-4 weeks ago verses now are quite different. YOU SEE IT IS OK TO DISAGREE AND SHOUT A LITTLE LOUDER TO GET RESULTS!

112288

112288 wrote:Here are some reasons why the Celtics have strung 4 wins in a row.  There is a reason and it called a new basketball strategy and a kick in the ass for some players and coaches.

1) Tatum took Perks challenge and criticism of him and used that as a motivation to lift his game to another dimension. Before that, Tatums game was treading downward despite the numbers posted. He had no energy and his decision making was poor. KUDO'S TO HIM FOR DOING SO!

2) You now have a starting center that can play above the rim both offensively and defensively.  This has created a new dimension especially offensively for the Celtics.  Notice that the ball more and more is going through Williams hands usually at the top of the key, setting picks for a player who will look to cut to the basket with the ball. The defense usually picks up that cutting player which turns into a block shot or best a reset and run another play.   Now you have Williams either trailing the play or deep under the basket where now the Celtic cutting to the basket has 2 options, drive and try to score or a toss up in the air to Williams for a slam dunk.  Before this we never had that 2nd option available to us with Theis. ​

3)  We now have an offense that is in constant motion moving around on the court, cutting in and out of the paint and the big thing...........BALL MOVEMENT!  Defenses now cannot set up easily to defend the Celtics.

4) The press as well as Mike Gorman himself were critical of the Celtic play for a while.  Both media and fan pressure collectively with heavy criticism brought change.  You have to be blind not to recognize that the basketball strategy 3-4 weeks ago verses now are quite different.   YOU SEE IT IS OK TO DISAGREE AND SHOUT A LITTLE LOUDER TO GET RESULTS!

112288  

112288,

In Tatum's defense he is now saying he has been forced to use inhalers due to COVID. Other than that I agree with the rest of your post completely.  




Bob


.

Even if it was by 1 point, a win against a team like Portland is a real positive sign.

The Celtics look like they're returning to the form we all expected. The addition of RWIII to the starting 5 and steady return to health for Walker and Tatum are all creating momentum heading toward the regular season's finish line.

bobheckler wrote:

112288 wrote:Here are some reasons why the Celtics have strung 4 wins in a row.  There is a reason and it called a new basketball strategy and a kick in the ass for some players and coaches.

1) Tatum took Perks challenge and criticism of him and used that as a motivation to lift his game to another dimension. Before that, Tatums game was treading downward despite the numbers posted. He had no energy and his decision making was poor. KUDO'S TO HIM FOR DOING SO!

2) You now have a starting center that can play above the rim both offensively and defensively.  This has created a new dimension especially offensively for the Celtics.  Notice that the ball more and more is going through Williams hands usually at the top of the key, setting picks for a player who will look to cut to the basket with the ball. The defense usually picks up that cutting player which turns into a block shot or best a reset and run another play.   Now you have Williams either trailing the play or deep under the basket where now the Celtic cutting to the basket has 2 options, drive and try to score or a toss up in the air to Williams for a slam dunk.  Before this we never had that 2nd option available to us with Theis. ​

3)  We now have an offense that is in constant motion moving around on the court, cutting in and out of the paint and the big thing...........BALL MOVEMENT!  Defenses now cannot set up easily to defend the Celtics.

4) The press as well as Mike Gorman himself were critical of the Celtic play for a while.  Both media and fan pressure collectively with heavy criticism brought change.  You have to be blind not to recognize that the basketball strategy 3-4 weeks ago verses now are quite different.   YOU SEE IT IS OK TO DISAGREE AND SHOUT A LITTLE LOUDER TO GET RESULTS!

112288  

112288,

In Tatum's defense he is now saying he has been forced to use inhalers due to COVID.  Other than that I agree with the rest of your post completely.  




Bob


.

Wow... just... wow

I hear a lot of feedback from people like Jason the so called "long haulers" some around me as well on the fact that vaccinations seem to help quite a bit with those post-covid symptoms. Especially shortness of breath and fatigue.

I hope that will be proven true and he will get his shot soon. This is a significant handicap for a young athlete that relies on explosiveness (I classify here pretty much every single NBA player tbh), athleticism and playing at the highest level.

Best, smartest play of the game had to be after Marcus missed the second free throw and they double teamed the person receiving the inbound pass so they couldn't get a running start up the court.

Of course, clutch Tatum with the dagger at the end was ridiculous. Glad it was delivered from our team!! I'd had about enough Doncic-like plays at our expense I could stand.

Great descriptive word, Vankisa...WOW!!

db

Another point to make:  with this win last night we are guaranteed a winning record on this 3 game west coast road trip against 3 WC playoff teams.

Maybe the sky isn't falling after all...


Bob


.

Bob,

There are always meteorites!

LOL 112288

We've seen more than enough of those this season!!

db

I finally watched the full game today. A gritty win!

MUCH better than the extremely good to see for his personal advancement, but not so great for the Celtics overall Tatum vs Timberwolves 4Q squeeze from the other night.

Once again, the engagement on defense is what separates those games from the bad losses for me. With the danger of sounding like a broken record - if the players and coaching staff can keep up the defensive intensity for the rest of the games until end of the season I do not see the Celtics losing many of the 8 left.

Some bad turnovers and mistakes in the 4Q would have cost us the game in a usual game this season. Kemba had a sequence of 3 possessions in the 4th where he directly or indirectly buried us. But the defensive intensity did not let up despite those mistakes on the offensive end. This is how you win games, especially close games. We have the finishers, the talented offensive guys. We KNOW they can all play defense and do it on elite level as evidenced from previous years.

We need the defensive intensity to keep up. Is practically ALL we need in my opinion at least until round 2 in the playoffs where they will need to clean up some more of the bad habits and strategies to advance.