The Boston Celtics showed their best against the Portland Trailblazers Wednesday night, beating them handedly. They secured a much-needed victory at home, 115-93.
Jayson Tatum dropped 30 points in 30 minutes, shooting a proficient 65% from the floor. The Celtics number two, Jaylen Brown had a rougher shooting night. He shot 40%, but missed on all 3-point attempts.
On the other side, the Celtics demonstrated their overpowering defense without all-defensive team selection Robert Williams. They held the Trail Blazers to 93 points, allowing the red-hot Damian Lillard 27 points. It is the lowest number of points he has scored since the end of February.
This victory for the Celtics will raise the momentum in a rough stretch before heading West on a six game road trip. It also snaps their losing streak of three games. Here are three takeaways from tonight’s game.
Al Horford Continues His Hot Streak
Al Horford has been arguably the best big man shooter in the league. No, Al Horford is the best shooter in the league. The Celtics center has been shooting 45% from three this season, no doubt his best shooting season.
Horford’s shooting season is up there for one of the best shooting seasons by a center in history. To compare to a current great shooting big man, Karl-Anthony Towns, Horford is shooting 4% better than KAT’s best shooting season. Also to compare to Stephen Curry this season, he is shooting 2% better than the guard from Golden State.
OT Battles Are Adding Up
Since the end of the All-Star break, the Celtics have been to four overtime periods through three games. The last two games (excluding Portland) saw the Celtics playing 15 minutes additional to regular time.
At this point in the season, the question lies in the coach Joe Mazzulla: do Tatum and Brown deserve to sit through overtime to save their legs for the playoffs?
After making a Finals run last season, Boston’s stars have certainly shown symptoms of tiredness in late games. This could also be a reason why Boston is losing their leads in fourth quarters, blowing games that shouldn’t be remotely close. The 82-game season is daunting, when star players are expected to play nearly 35 minutes per game. The overtime games add an additional five minutes of intensity to their workload.
This late into the season, with a high seed nearly guaranteed, should the Celtics be granting more rest to Tatum and Brown? This game was a great start. Tatum played only 30 minutes and had an efficient 30 points, while Brown played 25 and had only 11 points but a +/- of +7.
Although Horford possesses the ability to shoot 3s at a great clip, he doesn’t possess the ability to decrease in age. The Celtics already rest him on back-to-backs, but more time on the bench couldn’t hurt the 36-year-old.
Did The Celtics Slow Lillard?
Damian Lillard has been on a historic scoring run over the last month. This season, he’s averaging 32.4 points. He’s had not one, but two 60-point games this season, with a 71-point game (Donovan Mitchell also accomplished this feat).
Nurkić also made his return tonight, last playing Feb. 1. Tonight’s 17 minutes played was only a sample size to ease him back into play, but he provided five points and six rebounds in his short time played.
However, all eyes have been on the Blazer’s point guard as he continues to shock fans all around the country. Tonight was a different story. He was held to 27 points which might not seem like great defense, but only shot 2/8 from 3 point range. He also turned the ball over 5 times.
Lillard’s only 3 pointers tonight were within the first two minutes of the game, and he drew a good portion of his points from the free-throw line. This is most likely from Marcus Smart (former DPOY) and Derrick White’s great defense tonight. Smart finished his night with two steals.
The Celtics have a six game road trip where they will take on Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Portland again, Utah, and finally Sacramento before returning home.
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