No Matter What They Do, The Celtics Simply Cannot Have Nice Things In This Doomed Season

 

    It wasn't bad enough that that the Celtics (34-31 overall, 21-13 home) were about to lose to the Trail Blazers (36-28 overall, 20-12 away) tonight at TD Garden, nope the C's had to pour some gasoline on that fire and watch their season continue to burn to the ground. In the final minutes, guard Marcus Smart (11 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) got ejected for hitting Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic (14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals) in the nuts coming off a screen and even worse, in garbage time shooting guard Jaylen Brown (16 points, 11 rebounds) and swingman Jayson Tatum (33 points, 5 assists, 6 turnovers) stepped on each other's feet trying to steal an inbounds pass. You can't make this stuff up as both guys had to hobble to the back with ankle injuries. Oh and Portland won their fourth straight game, 129-119. 

    Even in defeat, this Celtics club is super dramatic. Haha they can't just lose and go home, instead a key player risks possible suspension in an important part of the calendar while their two All-Stars could miss games down the stretch as well. There are only seven games left (5 on the road, 2 at home) in their regular season and this loss dropped them down to seventh-place in the Eastern Conference aka the top play-in seed. Oy, they followed up their best win of the year and Tatum's game of his life with another dud where their defense never bothered to show up. The Blazers are a very good offensive team but good lord, give me a break. Allowing 129 points in regulation on your home court is beyond pathetic. 

    If you know anything about Portland, you are probably confident that shooting guard CJ McCollum (33 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and point guard Damian Lillard (26 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds) must have had fine performances and surprise, they did! Lillard's shooting was off (8-of-18 from the floor) but his playmaking for McCollum and other teammates was superb. Small forward Norman Powell (23 points) has been a sneaky great pickup from Toronto and power forward Robert Covington added 10 points and two blocks in the win. I've never been a big Carmelo Anthony fan (who is?) but I will give him credit, he still has something left as he scored 13 points off the bench. 

    Among other things that Boston wasted this evening, swingman Evan Fournier (21 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) had his best game as a Celtic since he hit 5-of-7 3-pointers. Off the top of my head, I'm going to say that this was the best outing for rookies Aaron Nesmith (16 points) and Payton Pritchard (13 points, 6 rebounds) in the same game. Pritchard was awesome to start this season then predictably tailed off but he's been better lately; Nesmith was MIA for much of the year but randomly, he's been really good the last few games. If Brown and Tatum are injured and miss any time, those three guys are the most likely candidates to pick up the slack for them. 

This was an NBA game straight out of the 1980s meaning that no defense was ever allowed. The Blazers led by a bucket (34-32) after one quarter and it was tied (71-71!) at halftime. Boston had their standard third quarter swoon (getting outscored 32-27) and that carried over in the fourth quarter too (26-21 Trail Blazers). Want some gross stats by the home team? Of course you do! Portland attempted 11 more free throws (26-15) and made nine more of them (22-13); the Blazers had five more steals (8-3), half as many turnovers (18-9) which led to 10 more points off turnovers (25-15). Plain and simple, Boston did not deserve to win this contest. 

    They get two days to rest and recover before a mini two-game road trip goes to Orlando (20-44 overall, 11-23 home) on Wednesday (7, NBC Sports Boston) then at Chicago (26-38 overall, 12-19 home) on Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston). The Magic have absolutely nothing to play for at this point besides seeding in the draft lottery while the Bulls have a slim shot of sneaking into the play-in tournament but let's be real, that ain't happening. The main objective here for the Celtics is to avoid the play-in tournament and that starts with beating these two garbage teams on the road later this week. Boston doesn't return to the Garden for a week until they have a back-to-back against the Heat (35-30 overall, 16-16 road) on Mother's Day afternoon (1, ABC) and next Tuesday (7, NBC Sports Boston). Atlanta (35-30) and Miami moved into fifth and sixth-place respectively in the East, one game ahead of the C's.

You Are Not Going To Believe This But The Celtics Are Finally Starting To Figure Some Things Out

 

    Perhaps we buried the Celtics (29-26 overall, 12-16 away) a little too soon for this season? Two games into their huge West Coast road trip, they look like a different team altogether as tonight they pulled out a great 116-115 win at the Moda Center vs. the Trail Blazers (31-23 overall, 16-12 home). Make no mistake, there is no way that they would have won this nailbiter at any point earlier during this campaign. The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week Jayson Tatum (game-high 32 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) hit a late 3-pointer and Boston held on for the very important victory which put them solely in fifth-place in front of idle Miami (28-26).  

    Boston's starting five was really good which was imperative since Portland's bench outscored theirs 34-10. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown scored 24 points, point guard Kemba Walker (21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) had his best performance in a few weeks, center Robert Williams added 16 points and seven rebounds while guard Marcus Smart (13 points, 7 assists, 2 steals, block) had a classic Marcus Smart outing. He was all over the court making plays on both sides of the ball and he even came up with the heady play to intentionally miss his final free throw (when the Blazers were out of timeouts) so they couldn't draw up a play or at least inbounds the ball for a decent last shot. 

    Point guard Damian Lillard (team-high 28 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds) went 9-for-23 from the field so there would be no Dame Time in the fourth quarter on this occasion. Shooting guard CJ McCollum (16 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) was even worse, going 6-of-19 from the field. Former Raptor Norman Powell (20 points) continued his strong start to his Blazers career while power forward Carmelo Anthony turned back the clock with 25 points off the bench fittingly in a losing effort. Center Jusuf Nurkic (8 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals) flirted with a triple-double while former Celtic Enes Kanter (9 points, 10 rebounds) just missed a double-double in 21 minutes as a reserve. 

Portland was on fire in the first quarter, building a 38-30 lead after 12 minutes. Boston's defense clamped down in the second quarter and cut it to 60-57 at halftime. Just like in Denver (34-20) on Sunday afternoon, the Celts really took control with a strong third quarter (35-27) which gave them just enough of a cushion to ride out the fourth quarter where the Blazers outscored them 28-24. Boston made five more free throws (17-12) than Portland but their real work was in the paint where they dominated the Blazers (50-28) and they also got 11 more points off turnovers (24-13) than the home team. 

    Against all odds, Boston has a chance to sweep this mini road trip with a win at the Staples Center on Thursday (10, NBC Sports Boston) when they take on the Lakers (34-21 overall, 16-11 home). LeBron James and Anthony Davis have both been out for awhile with various injuries so maybe the C's will luck out and miss them this time. LA squeaked by in their only other meeting with Boston 96-95 way back on January 30 at the Garden-the game where Smart hurt his calf but we all thought it was going to be a far more serious season-ending Achilles issue. Another road triumph on national tv would be the perfect way to cap off this unexpectedly satisfying last few days for the Celtics.