There was a Boston reunion, another forgettable first quarter and a fight-to-the-bitter-end performance by a shorthanded team.
But, in the end, there was also another loss for the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Boston Celtics defeated the Blazers 102-94 Monday night at TD Garden, using a lopsided opening quarter and cold Portland shooting to earn their fifth win in the last seven games.
Payton Pritchard torched his hometown team with 23 points and Jaylen Brown recorded 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Celtics (29-17) spoiled the return of Jrue Holiday, who made his first trip to Boston since the team traded him to Portland over the summer.
“This is a good team,” Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter told reporters in Boston. “This is a tough team.”
The Blazers were a mess from the opening jump, turning in a horrendous first quarter that made their Friday night stinker versus the Toronto Raptors look almost palatable. Portland missed its first eight shots, 13 of its first 15, and ended the opening period with just four field goals and 11 points, producing its lowest-scoring quarter of the season.
The grisly statistics — 4-for-21 shooting, including 1 for 12 from three-point range — were eerily similar to the Blazers’ first-quarter no-show on Friday, when they mustered a measly four field goals and 12 points in a loss at Moda Center. Over its last two opening quarters, Portland has shot 8 for 47 from the field, including 2 for 23 from long-range, and committed 10 turnovers.
“We’ve struggled in those quarters,” Splitter told reporters, referring to his team’s last two opening periods. “We’ve got to figure out a way to start better, be ready to compete (with) the readiness that we always talk about. Tomorrow has got to be different.”
But unlike Toronto, which countered with just 19 points, the Celtics pounced on the Blazers’ early woes, building a commanding 32-11 edge.
Pritchard (eight points, two threes), Brown (seven points, two assists) and Derrick White (six points, three assists) did most of the early heavy lifting, but nearly everyone wearing green and white got in on the fun as seven different Boston players scored in the dominant opening quarter.
The Celtics pushed the lead to 23 points later in the first half and it seemed like the Blazers — who were without injured forward Deni Avdija for the fifth time in seven games — would roll over while playing the first game of a road back-to-back.
But, fittingly, the team that has played the second-most clutch games in the NBA refused to go quietly to Washington.
The Blazers crept within 11 points late in the second quarter and inched to within eight late in the third. And even after Boston responded by pushing its lead back to 14 points with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth, the Blazers kept fighting.
When Toumani Camara snatched a couple of timely steals — including one that led to a breakaway dunk — Holiday hit a turnaround bucket and Jerami Grant completed a pair of driving layups, the Blazers had inexplicably cut the lead to single digits with roughly a minute left. Then, when Camara made two free throws with 41.5 seconds left, the Blazers had trimmed the lead to 99-94, making it a two-possession game.
But that was as close as they would get.
White nailed a deep, dagger three with 24.1 seconds left and the Blazers’ comeback was dead.
Grant scored 19 points off the bench, thanks to 10 free throws. Camara had 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals. And Holiday, who was given a standing ovation by the TD Garden crowd in the first half, finished with 14 points and three assists.
But Portland (23-24) finished with season-lows in points (94), field goals (32) and assists (17) as it opened a three-game East Coast trip with just its fourth loss in January.
NEXT UP
The Blazers continue their three-game trip Tuesday at 4 p.m. against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.