The Portland Trail Blazers finally got the first victory of their five-game homestand on Sunday, beating the Boston Celtics 114-108 Sunday afternoon.
The Blazers improved to 13-19 on the season, good for 10th place in the Western Conference. Shaedon Sharpe led the way with 26 points; Deni Avdija had 24 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists; and Donovan Clingan had 18 points to go along with 18 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown had 37 points for the Celtics, who fell to 19-12.
Here are a few key observations from
the game:
Strong Performance from Clingan
The Blazers got off to a poor start, falling behind 9-1 in the opening minutes of the game. Clingan, who grew up a Celtics fan in neighboring Connecticut, made sure they got back on track.
The second-year center played a longer-than-usual first quarter stint and his energy helped shift momentum back towards the Blazers. He finished the first quarter with 11 points and eight rebounds, scoring in a variety of ways, including two powerful dunks and an early three-pointer.
His three-point shooting has improved dramatically after a brutal start to the season. In his first 12 games, he made just 6-34 (17.6%). Over the last 16 games, he has made 17-38 (44.7%). Eventually, his percentage will settle somewhere between those extremes, but when defenses have to respect that shot, it makes a big difference for the Blazers offense.
Homecoming
Clingan wasn’t the only one with emotional ties to the opposing team on Sunday.
Anfernee Simons returned to Portland for the first time as a visiting player, receiving a well-deserved warm ovation from the Moda Center faithful.
Simons played seven seasons with the Blazers and is the third on the team’s all-time list for three-pointers made, behind Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. He was a full-time starter for his final three seasons in Portland, averaging 20.7 points and 4.7 assists over that time.
He has moved to a bench role in Boston, where he is down to 23.7 minutes per game. His scoring average (12.8 points per game) is his lowest since the 2020-2021 season.
For a few minutes, it looked like it could have been one of those hot-shooting Simons nights that Blazers fans saw so many times over the years. He entered the game for the first time with 6:51 to play in the first quarter and almost immediately knocked down a three-pointer. He hit another one moments later, but it was negated by an offensive foul call against Boston center Neemias Queta.
Simons was never able to fully get it going, though. He finished with 13 points on 4-11 shooting, including 2-6 on threes in 18:42 of playing time.
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard was also back home on Sunday. The West Linn High School and University of Oregon alum loves to play against his hometown team. Now in his sixth season, he averages more points (16.3 per game) against the Blazers than any other opponent. His career high (43) came against the Blazers in Boston last season.
But against the Blazers on Sunday afternoon, Pritchard was mostly quiet. He scored nine points on just 3-10 shooting, but found other ways to contribute with five rebounds and five assists.
No Boston Three Party
Pritchard wasn’t the only Boston player to struggle from behind the three-point arc. Guard Derrick White made just two of his ten long-range attempts and the Celtics were only 13-45 (28.9%) overall.
When the Celtics are at their best, they are getting into the paint, drawing help defenders, moving the ball, and getting open catch-and-shoot opportunities. Those looks are much easier than contested off-the-dribble ones.
The Blazers defense deserves a lot of credit. For most of the game, they did a good job of preventing the spot-up threes and none of the Celtics top marksmen were able to get into a rhythm.
Jaylen Brown
The one Celtics player to excel on the offensive end was Brown. He led all scorers with 37 points. It was the ninth consecutive game he has scored or surpassed 30, matching Larry Bird’s franchise record. He entered the day seventh in the NBA in scoring (29.4 points per game) and has shown that he can carry the team while Jayson Tatum recovers from his torn achilles.
Brown was nearly unstoppable in the first half, scoring 27 of his 37 points before the break. He finished 14-24 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.
The stat that he’ll probably think about most after this game, though, is the five turnovers he committed.
Lots of Turnovers
Turnovers continue to be a real problem for the Blazers. They give the ball away more than any team in the NBA and had 16 of their 21 turnovers in the first half.
While the Blazers took better care of the ball in the second half, the Celtics failed to do so. They average the fewest turnovers of any team in the league, but had three huge turnovers in the closing minutes.
Sharpe stole the ball from Brown near the half court circle with just over a minute to play. Then White threw an errant pass to Brown that ended up as a backcourt violation a few moments later. Finally, with the Celtics down four, White and Brown failed to connect on an inbounds pass, effectively ending their chances at a comeback.
Crunch Time
The Blazers were the better team in crunch time, but it wasn’t exactly a clinic. Avdija missed a pair of free throws after a flagrant foul was called on Brown and Sharpe missed another free throw moments later.
Clingan has had his share of struggles from the free throw line lately, but he knocked down a big one with 22 seconds left in the game. After a missed three, Clingan grabbed his seventh offensive rebound of the game, powered up for a layup in traffic, earned the foul call, and converted from the line.
Consistently Sharpe
In the month of December, Sharpe is averaging 23.5 points per game. He is making 48.4% of his shots overall, including 45.6% (31-68) of his three-point attempts. He has scored 20 points or more in all but two of those games.
With so many key offensive contributors out with injuries, the Blazers need Sharpe to continue to produce consistently.
Up Next
The Blazers finish out their five-game home stand tomorrow night against the Dallas Mavericks. Tip is scheduled for 7pm Pacific.
