Even without starters Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, the Boston Celtics outmatched the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday afternoon at the Moda Center.
The Celtics machine plugged in its spare cogs around star Jayson Tatum and it still hummed along smoothly to a 129-116 win over a Portland team that played pretty well. The Blazers shot an admirable 19-47 on 3s, turned the ball over just 12 times and matched Boston in rebounding. All that execution really did was force the Celtics to keep their starters in down the stretch, and that choice was more out of caution than anything. All that for a drop of blood, as a purple Marvel supervillain once said.
“That’s just a team that’s better than we are, that’s all,” Portland head coach Chauncey Billups said. “Right now they are. They got a lot more experience.”
Similar to Sunday’s matchup against Boston, Portland’s previous two wins came against teams with winning records who were missing a key player. The Morant-less Grizzlies and Jokic-less Nuggets were fine foes, but they aren’t of the same design as the Celtics. It wasn’t just the quality of the shotmaking that stood out Sunday by Boston, it was the quality of the looks and the systematic ease with which the Celtics got them. Just like when the Oklahoma City Thunder came to town back in November, the Blazers rubbed elbows with a juggernaut Sunday, and it served as a reminder of the distance between Portland and the league’s upper echelon.
Tatum headlined for Boston with a near triple-double of 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, but sharpshooter Sam Hauser’s 24 points on 8-10 shooting from deep better reflected what made Boston so damn good Sunday. It didn’t matter who was occupying the spots on the perimeter — Hauser, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, rookie Baylor Scheierman — they were all capable and they all showed it. The supporting cast blended together to form a monolithic 3-point shooting force that overwhelmed the Blazers with clockwork execution and a 23-50 mark from deep. Eight of Boston’s nine players who checked in made at least one 3 (and the only player who didn’t, Luke Kornet, went 6-6 from the field for 13 points).
“Everybody that touches the ball out there at some point is a knockdown shooter,” Billups said. “So they make you pay all over the place.”
Barring some defensive breakdowns, Billups said he was happy about his team’s performance. Portland forward Toumani Camara felt similar. He cited issues like communication, switching and biting on pump-fakes that helped Boston shoot so prolifically, but he was happy with the effort put forth by him and his teammates.
There seemed to be a general understanding in the building that the Blazers ran into the NBA’s best on a night they were hot and came up short. No shame in that. Billups summed it up well:
“That’s the NBA Champions and a team that is gonna have a chance to do it again this year.”
More Game Notes
— Blazers center Donovan Clingan returned to the lineup Sunday after missing one game with an illness. He registered four points on 2-3 shooting, one rebound and an assist in 19 minutes. Billups mentioned the Celtics “played [Clingan] off the floor a little with all the shooting.”
— If the Blazers were going to keep pace with the defending champs on a night they made 23 3-pointers, they probably needed Deni Avdija to produce another big-time performance. But Avdija cooled off some against Boston, putting up 17 points on 6-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and four assists.
— A reporter asked Billups why he called a timeout with 1:08 left in a 13-point game. Here was Billups’ explanation:
“[The Celtics] were getting the switch. What we wanted to do on the coverage, Tatum wasn’t letting us do it, but in the way that he was doing it, it really is illegal. So really, I took a timeout for the referees, so I can teach ‘em on the play, to be honest with you.”
Reporter: “Do you feel like they learned the lesson?”
Billups: “I don’t know, but it’s all good. I thought they called a good game to be honest with you.”