Celts Made Another Major Trade: Robert Williams & Malcolm Brogdon To Portland For Jrue Holiday

 

    With training camp starting this week, it was nice to see the Celtics finally show some urgency to win their first NBA title since 2008. After seeing the Bucks acquire superstar point guard Damian Lillard last week, Boston responded by trading center Robert Williams and point guard Malcolm Brogdon to Portland (along with a 2024 and 2029 first round pick) for point guard Jrue Holiday. We have always overrated Williams but for many reasons, I truly do not think that you will miss him all that much unless you love alley oop dunks and highlight reel blocked shots in the regular season. I liked Brogdon very much but Holiday is unquestionably better as a two-time NBA All-Star (including last season) and more importantly, an NBA champion with the Bucks in 2021.  

    Williams had always been such a tease as a Celtic, often flashing incredible athleticism and talent but his game never really developed offensively and he is one of the most injury prone players in professional sports. Truthfully, he is a bit of a dinosaur in the league since big men that do not shoot 3-pointers are almost totally extinct. Brogdon was only here for one season but he was a true pro and the Sixth Man of the Year but you knew something would happen when the C's tried to trade for him over the summer to the Clippers while they wanted him to get surgery on his elbow (that severely limited him in the playoffs) but he disagreed. I know that he was close with Jaylen Brown so hopefully this move does not piss off Jaylen too much. Likewise, Time Lord was tight with Jayson Tatum so same deal there. 

    More than anything, this aggressive move by the C's proves that Brad Stevens understands that they cannot wait around for the next championship to appear out of the mist. For too long, the franchise has acted like they are the Warriors or the Bulls in the 90s in terms of multiple titles in recent history when they truth is that all they have is two bitter losses in the NBA Finals (in 2011 vs. the Lakers and in 2022 vs. the Warriors) since capturing their 17th title 15 long years ago. As long as they have a healthy Tatum and Brown, they will always be in the mix in the Eastern Conference and for the Finals. You don't win championships because of role players and bench guys but Boston clearly needed to upgrade its roster that was way too thin behind their top two players.  

    Besides being a very solid player who averaged 19.3 points per game, 7.4 assists per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 1.2 steals per game in 2022-23, Holiday is an adult. He is 33 years old and married to former USWNT star Lauren Holiday who has battled some serious health issues since she was forced to retire early. Jrue is a good but great shooter (38.4% on 3-pointers and 85.9% free throw percentage) who has famously struggled with his shot in the postseason but you can always count on his outstanding defense, leadership and winning mentality. He won't beat himself and force things searching for his points. This is all to say that both on the floor and in the community, I think that he should be an excellent fit (much like Brogdon was) for the Celtics and someone that is very easy to root for. 

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.

Do You Remember that the Celtics are Still a Thing?

Since they have made a million trades in the last few months and seemingly lost about every game in between, you are forgiven if like me you have totally tuned out the Celtics this miserable campaign. However, with the NHL All-Star break starting and over a week before Super Bowl 49, we were forced to turn our lonely eyes to the C's tonight as they visited the Blazers at Moda Center.

LaMarcus Aldridge is out for 6-8 weeks with torn ligaments in his thumb and Portland (31-13 overall, 19-5 home) clearly misses him as they lost a heartbreaker 90-89 to Boston (14-26 overall, 5-13 away) on Evan Turner's (10 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds) last-second three-pointer. Normally I would be mad at the C's for winning since that is totally irrelevant to their tanking cause this season but honestly, for once it was nice to be treated to a totally unexpected and exciting win against one of the best teams in the NBA.

Brandon Bass (13 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists) started for the first time in ages and made the most of it. Avery Bradley led the Celts with 18 points while Jared Sullinger added 17 points and nine rebounds. Old man Tayshaun Prince and Marcus Thornton each scored nine points off the bench for Boston. Did I mention this was their first road win against a Western Conference team since Nov. 2013? Haha how is that even possible?

Damian Lillard (21 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) has quickly become one of the top players in the league but he struggled with his shot (8 for 23) against that vaunted Celtics defense. Free-Agent-to-be Wesley Matthews scored 18 points while caveman Chris Kaman had 13 points and nine rebounds. Former Brewster Academy star Thomas Robinson got the rare start in Aldridge's place (Sideshow Bob, I mean Robin Lopez was also out with an injury) and put up nine points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and two steals with C.J. McCollum scoring 10 points off Portland's bench.

Boston led 23-19 after the first quarter which was cute enough then it started to get a bit more real with a 44-42 halftime lead. Portland outscored the C's 30-23 in the third quarter so naturally, I thought well that's it. That's when the Celts proceeded to grind out a 23-17 fourth quarter. This result has to be especially gratifying for head coach Brad Stevens since it proves that his team is still playing hard and listening to him even though they have so little talent. Again, it's one game but this also shows positive traits about many of these players who are fighting for their NBA futures either here or somewhere else.

Portland came in with the best home record in the NBA but Boston shot 45.3% from the field and held them to 37.1%. The Celtics grabbed two more rebounds (47-45) and dished out seven more assists (23-16).

This was the beginning of an insane four games in five nights stretch for Boston. Their season-long six-game road trip started with a loss to the Clippers on Monday (102-93) and it continues tomorrow (9, CSN) in Denver (18-24 overall, 3rd in Northwest Division). From there, the Celtics go to Golden State on Sunday (8, CSN), Utah on Monday (9, CSN) and they wrap things up on Wednesday in Minnesota (8, CSN).

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While You Were Falling Asleep Watching The Oscars, The Celtics Lost In Portland 92-86

I wish I could tell you that you missed a classic Celtics game tonight (assuming you didn't tune in) but like The Oscars, it left me with an unsettled feeling as Boston (29-27, 9-18 away) lost 92-86 to Portland (26-30, 18-9 home) at the Rose Garden. PS the Blazers had come in with a seven-game losing streak, ugh.

One of the reasons, besides the Western Conference being loaded, that Portland will likely miss out on the playoffs this season is that their bench is horrid. On the other hand, their starters are very underrated. Against the Celts, all they needed was double-figures from all five starters to get the win. Wesley Matthews led Portland with a game-high 24 points (five 3-pointers), Nicolas Batum added 18 points and six rebounds, LaMarcus Aldridge scored his typical soft 16 points, rookie sensation Damian Lillard put up 12 points, six rebounds and six assists while J.J. Hickson had the game's lone double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds).

Paul Pierce (23 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds) and Kevin Garnett (20 points, 9 rebounds) played great, the issue was that the rest of Boston's team was nowhere to be seen for the most part. Brandon Bass had 11 points and five rebounds while Jeff Green scored 11 points off the bench. The rest of the squad combined for 21 points.

Portland was in control the whole way, leading 27-21 after the first quarter and 49-42 at halftime. The only good quarter by the Celtics (25-22) got them back in it in the third but the Blazers made enough plays in the fourth (21-19) to break that ugly losing streak.

When you look at the box score, it's easy to realize why the Blazers came out on top in the end. They hit five more 3-pointers (7-2), three more free throws (15-12), grabbed 11 more rebounds (47-36) and dished out five more assists (21-16). The Celtics made five more steals (9-4) and scored 12 more fast break points (19-7) which seems to be the only reason it was so close.

The C's knew they had to have this game because it's hard to see them winning tomorrow night (9 p.m., CSN) in Utah since the Jazz (31-25, 3rd in Northwest Division) are a good team that always enjoys a distinct advantage at good old EnergySolutions Arena (part of me just died typing that). The Jazz are 21-6 at home this season.

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