The Portland Trail Blazers’ wait to finally kick things into gear before their postseason season hopes completely disappear didn’t seem likely to end Friday night against the Boston Celtics.
The vastly superior Celtics are still in the hunt for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. So, dropping a game against a team with the sixth-worst record in basketball didn’t figure into their plans.
It was no surprise, then, that the Celtics took command early and led big in the second half. However, they had to withstand a 25-point fourth quarter from Damian Lillard to hold on to win 126-112 at the Moda Center.
The Blazers’ best chance to remain in the game and in position to steal it late was to get hot from three-point range. That didn’t go so well. The Blazers shot 4 of 18 on threes in the first half, including 1 of 10 in the second quarter, while falling behind 63-48 by halftime. Portland committed 10 turnovers that the Celtics converted to 15 points.
The negative trends continued in the third quarter, when the Celtics led by as much as 21. But to the Blazers’ credit, they didn’t quit. A three from Lillard made the score 111-103 with 3:52 remaining in the game, and a bit later they trailed just 113-105 with the ball.
But the comeback attempt began crashing down when Boston guard Marcus Smart stripped Lillard in the backcourt and the ball ended up in the hands of Jaylen Brown, who dunked to make the score 115-105. Then, after a Celtics stop, Al Horford made a three to push Boston’s lead to 118-105 with 1:33 to go. That was pretty much that.
Lillard led the Blazers with 41 points on 12-of-23 shooting. He hit 2 of 10 threes through three quarters before making 4 of 5 in the fourth.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 34 points and 12 rebounds. Brown scored 27 and Horford finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Blazers, who lost 115-93 at Boston last week, simply couldn’t match up with the Celtics’ length, experience and talent level. Boston led in rebounding (52-37), assists (29-20), points in the paint (50-38) and second-chance points (14-4).
Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, bottom, drives to the basket against Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, top, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) APAP
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (31-39) fell to eight games under .500 for the first time this season with their loss to the Celtics (49-23) and have now lost five consecutive games and 10 of their last 13. The 13th-place Blazers fell to three games behind 10th-place Oklahoma City (34-36), which was off Friday.
JUSTISE WINSLOW UPDATE
The Blazers forward, out since Dec. 21 with a left ankle sprain, underwent a bone morrow aspirate concentrate procedure on March 10 to address continued discomfort in his ankle, the franchise announced Friday. Winslow will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks.
The procedure Winslow underwent involved obtaining his bone marrow from an area of his body and then injecting it into the injured area in hopes that it will help accelerate the healing process.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Clippers (37-33) at 6 p.m. Sunday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress(Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
