The Boston Celtics came into town riding a four-game winning streak. Meanwhile the injury-plagued Portland Trail Blazers, were losers of three straight at home. Two streaks entered the arena. One left, as the Portland Trail Blazers gutted out a gritty performance to beat the Celtics 114-108.
First Quarter
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The opponent jumps out to a 9-1 lead mainly due to sloppy turnovers on the opening possessions by the Blazers. That happened again.
During the ensuing timeout, the Blazers gave
Anfernee Simons a nice video tribute. The crowd responded in kind with a nice ovation. Thanks Ant!
The Blazers’ deep stroke came alive out of the timeout with Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, and Donovan Clingan each chipping in from downtown to cut the deficit to 16-14.
Simons checked in at the 6:51 mark and cans his first 3-pointer. Dang it Ant!
Then the omnipresent Cling Kong made an impressive appearance, cleaning the boards and throwing down a few monster dunks. He’d finish with 11 points and 8 rebounds in the first. He was instrumental in giving the Blazers their first lead at 24-23.
Caleb Love then entered the game and immediately made his presence felt. He hit a 3 followed by stealing the incoming inbounds pass and cruised to the rim for a layup. In a three-minute span, Love contributed a hearty 5 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a board.
The Blazers led 31-30 after one.
Second Quarter
I honestly don’t know how the Celtics are 19-11 with this roster. They play several guys that make you ask “who?” Former Blazer summer leaguer Luka Garza sees regular minutes!
At the 9:50 mark, Sharpe hit a glorious 3 in the face of Simons. I’m sure many a BlazerEdger gave a quiet fist pump after that.
The Celtics came out cold going 1-6 to start the quarter. Shaedon took advantage with 5 quick points for the good guys prompting a timeout by General Joe Mazulla.
Yang Hansen responded next by hitting a 3. Aside from a win, I don’t think there’s anything the Blazers’ home crowd loves more currently than a Hansen three. It feels like a city of soccer moms being so proud.
Jaylen Brown then took over for the Celtics. He scored in a bevy of ways, cooking every Blazers defender thrown at him. He scored 16 in the quarter including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Celtics into the locker room with a 63-55 lead. Brown paced the way with 27 first half points.
Shaedon Sharpe led the Blazers with 15 points, and Donovan Clingan’s double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.
Third Quarter
The Blazers opened the third with good energy, led by Avdija and Sharpe. The Blazer tied the game at 67-67, four minutes in.
A Caleb Love three gave the Blazers their first lead since the early second quarter, 72-71.
Cidy Sissoko came in and gave the Blazers a nice effort. He’s been learning the art of drawing offensive fouls from Camara, and he drew a couple more during this shift, and dropped a few dimes to boot. Sidy is Top 5 in the league in drawing offensive fouls!
Boston would hang tough with Simons scoring 8 points in the quarter. Camara came alive with three 3-pointers and Avdija scored 9 points in the quarter.
The Blazers would take an 86-85 lead into the final stanza.
Fourth Quarter
The teams would trade baskets to start the quarter, and Celtics rookie Hugo Gonzalez hit a 3 to tie the game at 98 apiece. Gonzalez had a great game off the bench for the C’s with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
After robbing the Rip City faithful of a Shaedon Sharpe alley-oop dunk by breaking it up, Boston ran out a fast break that ended in a Jaylen Brown offensive foul after giving Deni Avdija a serious pork chop to the jaw. The foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1. Dazed and confused, Avdija missed both free throws.
The next 3 minutes were why the NBA is Fantastic!
The Celtics responded with a Neemais Queta dunk, and three from Brown to cut the lead to 106-105.
Sharpe would steal the ball from Brown and found himself in a foot race to the rim. Brown fouled Sharpe, who made 1 of 2 at the line giving the Blazers a 107-105 lead with 1:03 left.
Camara duped Brown into an over-and-back. Then Avdija drove on the next possession to give the Blazers a 109-105 lead with 35 seconds to play.
Derrick White came down and casually dropped a 3 to bring the Celtics back within one.
On the next trip down, Donovan Clingan would get a putback And-1, and make the free throw. Blazers up 112-108 with 21.3 seconds left. The Moda Center was rocking!
Sissoko stole the next inbound pass, who got it to Avdija who was fouled. He made both foul shots.
Luckily the game was in a frenetic flow and the game ended with the Blazers snapping their 3-game losing streak 114-108.
The Blazers were led by Sharpe’s 26 points and 5 rebounds, and Clingan’s huge 18 point and 18 rebounds. Deni Avdija continued his bid for his first All-Star selection with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Jaylen Brown had 37, 7, and 4. Anfernee Simons in his Rip City return scored 13 points on 4-11 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench. Hometown hero and the Pride of West Linn, Payton Prichard had a tough night shooting, going 3-10.
Fun Fact
The Blazers just passed the 40th Anniversary of being the only team to defeat the 1985-86 Celtics at home. On Dec 6, 1985 Portland went into Boston and pummeled the NBA Champions 121-106. They were led by generational center Sam Bowie’s 18 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.
Up Next
The Blazers are back in action tomorrow night when they take on the Dallas Mavericks at 7 p.m. The matchup will wrap up this five-game homestand in Portland.
