Banner Town Breakdown: Celtics vs. Trailblazers (August 2, 2020)
As much as it may have played with our emotions, this was a solid bounce back game for the Celtics. Boston took on the Portland Trailblazers in a mid-day game, and looked much better than they did against Milwaukee on Friday, especially on the offensive end.
The game started off with things looking pretty even, but the Celtics eventually turned up the heat on a Portland team that looked disengaged on the defensive end. As a result, the offense was flowing for the C’s early on. Gordon Hayward (22 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists) was getting nice looks from deep, Kemba Walker (14 points in 22 minutes) was using screens to create open looks, and Jayson Tatum (34 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists) began his “comeback tour”.
After the last game against the Bucks, a lot of fans were worried that Tatum wasn’t going to be the same player that he was in February. He scored only five points, and was held to 2-18 from the field, of which one make was an “own basket” that he was credited with. It may have taken him until midway through the first to hit a shot against Portland, but once he did the floodgates were wide open. After that, it was like he was physically unable to miss a shot, no matter how bad the shot may have seemed whilst he was shooting it. Apparently all it took was a haircut.
The Celtics were also rock solid on the defensive end in the first half. The Blazers were held to just 48 points. Daniel Theis (9 points) struggled defending the much bigger Jusuf Nurkic (30 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) in the post, but Brad Stevens subbed in Enes Kanter (11 points, 8 rebounds) who proved to match up better.
Marcus Smart (3 points, 3 steals, 2 blocks) was elite all game on defense, too, helping the Celtics force plenty of turnovers in the first half. Speaking of turnovers, everyone on the Celtics had very active hands throughout the game, poking the ball loose every time they had the chance. Going into halftime, Boston held a 67-48 lead over Portland.
Then the second half came around.
I would blame the Celtics’ offense, but at the end of the day they were still super efficient. The only slight difference I noticed on Boston’s end was a little less energy on the defensive end. Apparently, that’s all it took to allow the Blazers to start chipping away at the lead. Throughout the third quarter, everything just seemed to be moving slow for Boston. The Blazers were making more and more shots, no matter how much they were contested, and brought the lead within ten going into the fourth.
At the end of the day, though, it was Damian Lillard (30 points, 16 assists, 5-14 from three) who carried Portland back into this one. He caught fire late in the game and, like Tatum in the first half, seemed like he just couldn’t miss. The Celtics started going under the screen instead of over and Lillard took advantage of it. Brad Wanamaker was on him for a while and just could not keep up. He and Nurkic were a force throughout. Along with Lillard, CJ McCollum (17 points, 3-7 from three) and Gary Trent Jr. (21 points, 7-11 from three) began hitting every shot, too.
Luckily for Boston, Jaylen Brown (30 points, 6 rebounds) came in clutch with a spectacular fourth quarter. He had a very quiet first half, but when the moment came he showed everybody why he can be a superstar in this league. Brown was nailing three after three after three in the last few minutes of the game. One that stood out to me was off of a Kanter rebound which saved a Celtics possession from being a dud. If Kanter doesn’t get that rebound or Brown doesn’t hit that shot, the end of the game could have looked much different. Then obviously the three in the corner with under a minute left was absolutely huge.
The final seconds of the game were scary to say the least. Lillard and company were fighting hard, and even had a chance to tie the game with a three. Portland got the ball into Lillard, but Smart clamped him up and didn’t give him any space to shoot the ball. It was exactly the defensive possession Boston needed in that moment. Hayward hit both free throws, Nurkic threw the ball away, and Tatum made one of two to seal the deal.
The Celtics ended up squeaking out a 128-124 victory over Portland off the coattails of their young stars. Tatum showed that he’s still a superstar, and Brown showed that he’s starting to become one. A good showing from a Boston team who suffered a tough loss just a couple days ago.
This has been your Banner Town Breakdown! Come back for another one on Tuesday, August 4th after the Celtics take on the Miami Heat at 6:30 PM.
