Celts finish road trip 1-4
PORTLAND, Ore. — On many nights the Celtics have an unfinished look, like a scattered jigsaw puzzle that isn’t going to be completed anytime soon.
Like last Thursday in Phoenix, the Celtics responded to this kind of spotty offense with energy and explosive shot-making in the second half. Unlike last Thursday, a second half turnaround wasn’t enough in last night’s 100-94 loss to Portland.
Jayson Tatum’s seasonhigh 27-point performance, including four third quarter 3-pointers, and another 21 from Kyrie Irving were thus wasted. The Celtics flew home off this road trip with a 1-4 record.
Irving’s 3-pointer with 2:55 left cut the Portland lead to 92-91. Al-Farouq Aminu hit from downtown, Irving drove, and Jusuf Nurkic posted up the mismatched Jaylen Brown for a 97-93 Blazers lead.
Horford, knocked over by Nurkic fighting for a rebound, missed the first of two free throws with 1:21 left, and Farouq made the Celtics pay three times over, burying a deep bomb for a 100-94 lead with a minute left.
The Celtics followed with an empty two-shot possession, this time with Irving and Tatum missing from downtown as the Celtics fell out of range.
The Celtics finally clicked in the third quarter, at one stage with Tatum answering three straight Blazers treys with 3-pointers of his own, and then burying a fourth that briefly cut the deficit to six points.
But Portland closed out the quarter with a 7-0 run for an 83-70 lead.
The Celtics’ next burst finally did damage, with treys from Morris and Brown triggering an 11-0 run. Brown scored off the break, Rozier launched a deep 3-pointer that cut the Blazers lead to 85-83, and Portland went into a timeout.
Marcus Morris’ bomb briefly tied the score at 8686, before Lillard drove to take the lead back with 7:08 left.
Two scoreless minutes followed, before C.J. McCollum scooped up a loose ball and banked a 15-footer for a 90-86 lead with 5:03 left.
Tatum narrowed that gap with two free throws with 4:54 left. Only for Jusuf Nurkic, a pain in the paint in the first half, to cap a three-shot possession with a put-back.
Offense continued to be a problem. Combined with the Celtics’ inability to protect the paint or the rim, the result was a 54-37 Portland halftime lead.
The Celtics shot 37 percent overall and 18 percent from downtown, and were polished off by a voluminous 26-6 Portland run in the second quarter. Nurkic had a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double by halftime.
Tatum, with a 13-point half, continued the groove he started in Utah two nights earlier, but received little support.