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Celtics Wrap: Al Horford Hits Game-Winner In Thrilling Win Over Blazers

NESN by Dakota Randall on Sun, Feb 4, 2018 at 2:35PM

A huge sports day in New England got off to an epic start at TD Garden, thanks to Al Horford. The Boston Celtics forward hit a game-winning buzzer-beater to give the C’s a thrilling 97-96 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Super Bowl Sunday.

Boston trailed for nearly the entire game but played great basketball down the stretch to pick up up one of its most exciting victories of the season. Horford led the Celtics in points (22), rebounds (10), assists (5, tied with two others) and blocks (2). He also spent much of the second half playing point guard while Terry Rozier was on the bench. Jayson Tatum (17 points), Jaylen Brown (16 points) and Rozier (11 points) also had big games for Boston. The Celtics once again over came the absences of Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris and Shane Larkin — who all remain out with injuries — to pick up their fourth consecutive victory, improving to 39-15 while the Blazers fell to 29-24. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Baynes

SLOW START Tatum used a sweet fake to pick up the game’s first points. The first quarter was mostly downhill from there, though. The Blazers outscored Boston 26-19 in the first frame, as the C’s shot a woeful 26.9 percent from the floor in the quarter. The Celtics didn’t reach 10 points until just under five minutes to go in quarter, and the score would have been even uglier if it weren’t for Tatum’s eight points. Boston’s thin bench clearly was a factor, as it’s never a good sign when Guerschon Yabusele gets first-quarter minutes.

MORE OF THE SAME The second quarter was equally uninspiring, as Portland outscored Boston 28-19 to take a 54-38 lead into the locker room. The Celtics’ shooting and rebounding woes continued, as Portland out-rebounded them 28-19 in the first half. The second quarter did include some great highlights, though, especially Yabusele’s 3-pointer and ensuing bow-and-arrow dab. That never will get old.

HERE COME THE C’S The Celtics, as they always do, made a run in the third quarter. Boston opened the second half on fire and used a huge run to narrow the score to 61-60, Blazers. The C’s had multiple chances to either tie or take the lead — including when it was 68-67 — but couldn’t get over the hump in the period. Rozier, unsurprisingly, was a big part of the Celtics’ push. The Blazers eventually rediscovered their game, and closed the quarter holding a 73-69 lead.

EPIC FINISH The fourth quarter was a complete roller coaster, concluding with an exhilarating win for the Celtics. Portland maintained a multiple-possession lead for much of the frame. But a 3-pointer from Tatum with 3:35 remaining, followed by a 3-pointer from Horford on the next possession, gave the C’s their first lead since early in the first quarter. Boston looked to have the game in control toward the end, but Damian Lillard’s and-one finish gave the Blazers the lead with under 10 seconds to go. That set the stage for Horford’s fade-away game-winner. Here’s Lillard’s play: And here’s Horford’s winner: Unreal. Here’s another angle of the celebration: Your move, New England Patriots.

PLAY OF THE GAME We already covered the buzzer-beater, so Horford’s second-quarter dunk on Jusuf Nurkic gets the nod here.

UP NEXT The Celtics return to action Tuesday night for a road matchup with the Toronto Raptors. Tip-off from Air Canada Centre is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

112288

These come from behind wins are pretty special.

I was very impressed with the number of young Celtics players that made big time shots.  The level of intensity has tested our young team and they just keep on delivering the goods.

With 3 of the top 8 rotation players out, this could have been a game where Boston puts up a good fight but losses a tough game to a team that came in ready to make up for a bad loss to the Raptors.

This team comes to win regardless of who plays.  The valuable experience being gained is really making this team better.  

5 minutes into game one, I turned to my wife and declared the season was lost.  It is nice to be wrong about things such as this.  And throughout the year when I watch a game and Boston is being throttled early on, I have no doubts in my mind that Boston will win.

And again Stevens shows no visible reaction to the winning hoop.

Can’t post the video from my phone but when you look at it he just glances then walks towards mid court.  

We made several key shots in the final minutes but Portland matched most of them.  Considering our short bench this is a huge win moving forward.

Pretty sure the Toronto game Tuesday will have an Eastern Final playoff atmosphere........ sorry Cleveland.

beat

Try this link:

https://youtu.be/DuQIqq2iF5I

The Celtics only have 28 games left. If they go 21-7, that's sixty wins. It seems very doable and might be enough to hold off Toronto.

This was a phenomenal win considering how many players were missing. That was a very aggressive Horford all game. He was into it even when on the bench.

There was a terrible call by the ref which almost gift-wrapped it to Portland. He needs glasses. And wow, that was a tough shot by Al to win it. It doesn't get much more clutch than that. He was fading away into a deep mid-range.

Poor Evan Turner. Or he's actually rich Evan Turner but in a poor basketball situation.

I was completely expecting a loss. Looking at the stats, the Celtics won by getting a few extra rebounds and a few extra three pointers.

That had to be a crushing loss for Portland. The Celtics had Horford at point guard. Tatum chipped in with five assists too which helped. Maybe Sandpd was correct it's a pg by committee, but from what I see, it is Rozier and Horford (and rarely Brown) acting as pg's for the last three games. Rozier had five assists and one turnover.

Rozier shot like Smart, but I guess as Cowens pointed out, he deserves some credit for playing good defense. Ojeleye had no turnovers in 28 minutes. That's pitiful by Portland to not win. Speaking of missed bunnies at the net, Nurkic was helpful.

I'm still shocked the C's won that.

Horford has nothing to prove. Get Monroe in uniform, get the hurt back on their feet, and then start setting up the playoff rotation. Kyrie is very flashy, but I think Horford proved today that he is the most important Celtic. He is at the peak of his career. It's exciting.

I mean, unless someone wants to sulk and say Golden State is invincible and this is a bridge year no matter how good the C's gel, I am not so sure of that anymore if they are winning games like this while missing three point guards and Morris.

Tough win, but probably a signature win against a good team.


Kj

Wildly entertaining game, the kids are growing brass balls.

Our young core of Rozier, Tatum and Brown can play through bad stretches and make the right play and hit big shots when the game is getting down to the wire. They all hit huge shots, couldn’t believe the last 3 pointer by Jaylen with a defender in his face. Pierce like, was not expecting that and it’s not the first time he’s hit a 3 with the game on the line. Yeah he and Tatum missed some lay ups, but going forward I think their decisions and finishing ability is only going to get better and better.

Cleveland is shot this year, right now they may not even hold onto to 4th seed, it’s going to come to us and Raptors to get to Finals, they have more experience, we have more depth and youth, energy. We match up really well with GS....we could steal the whole enchilada this year.

"It's Deja Vu all over again" - Yogi Berra

We go down 16 points vs another good team and we come back.  Tying this to KJ's thread, does this weaken our points differential rating?  You betcha, but it also showed character by us and we showed it vs a >.500 team. A playoff-bound team.  Just imagine how much easier it would be if we didn't start off like blocks of ice and only score 38 points in the first half.  13-42 (32%) in the first half but 22-43 (51%) in the 2nd half.  About the same pace, we just starting hitting them.  One thing that changed is we took fewer 3ptrs.  We took 21 in the 1st half but only 15 in the 2nd half.  I understand that shooters gotta shoot and if your game plan is to take a lot of 3s that's what you're going to do but if they're not dropping...

Horford with a great game, just willing us forward.  I remember, in his first year as a Celtic, how he kept blowing bunnies and shots a high-demand free agent should have been hitting.  He's hitting those shots now, highlighting the importance of chemistry, continuity and comfort.  Al is comfortable in Boston and with Brad's system now and it's showing.

Semi with a poor shooting night but 6 rebounds and that big, clutch charge taken on Nurkic.  The call Lillard got on him was BS.  28 minutes for the rook.  He's one of those players that I could see Danny trading because Brad is making him look good, enhancing his trade value.

Terry Rozier turned back into Terry Rozier with a 5-18 night.  Still, he rebounded well (6) and was an effective floor general (5 assists, 1 TO) and held Dame Lillard to 6-19 shooting.  Considering Lillard's importance to the Portland offense I'd call that a win.

Same with Baynes. He almost played Nurkic even up and that's a win for us. 8 and 14 for Nurkic in 28 minutes before fouling out vs 8 and 8 for Baynes in 21 minutes. We don't need Baynes to score like crazy, we need him to stop Brahma Bulls like Nurkic from crushing us on the glass and in the paint. Nurkic used the same drop step successfully 3 or 4 times but it seemed he used it vs Horford more than Baynes. This is why we have Baynes, to wall off the brutes, and he did his job yesterday.

5 Celtics with 6 or more rebounds, 1 (Nader in 20 minutes) with 5.  That's solid stuff.  We don't have a Drummond-like rebounder so this is how we have to do it.  51 rebounds is indicative of their poor shooting cause by our defense but the breadth of our rebounding is notable.

So is our assist dispersal. Three Celtics with 5 assists (Horford, Tatum and Rozier). Without a Rondo this is how we need to do it.

Nader with a poor shooting night (2-eight) but he seems to be making good decisions.  We're winning despite being VERY short-handed and these minutes going to Nader and higher level of talent Rozier has to face as a starter will pay dividends.  It's one thing to know the plays, it's one thing to run those plays vs G-League talent in Maine and it's a completely different thing to execute those plays vs the best players in the world, players that are taller, longer, faster and stronger than anybody you've tried running them against to-date.  Nader is still not a top-10 player on this team, when we're healthy, but my pucker-factor when he is inserted has dropped precipitously.

No Kyrie or Morris.  Think of the loss of offense there.  No Smart or Larkin.  Think of the loss of defense there.  

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975530







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