Much needed win before road trip
C's end three-game losing streak
As the Celtics processed their third consecutive agonizing loss on Monday night, they tried to thread a balance. They didn’t want to overreact to their struggles, but still wanted to act with a sense of urgency, knowing they have issues to iron out as the playoffs loom.
“Winning cures all,” Malcolm Brogdon said Monday in Cleveland.
For one night, it did. A typically inconsequential home game against the struggling Blazers suddenly became more important for the reeling Celtics in the face of some late-season adversity. After Monday’s loss, Brogdon said he told Blake Griffin it was one they needed to win to get back on track before a six-game, 16-day road trip against winnable teams.
The Celtics stopped the bleeding and never let their foot off the gas in a wire-towire, 115-93 win over the Blazers at TD Garden. Jayson Tatum scored 30 points, Derrick White added 20 points and seven assists, and behind a strong early shooting display, the C’s earned an early double-digit and didn’t let it go.
“I guess you could say it’s a breath of fresh air,” Al Horford said. “I don’t like to lose. But it was important before hitting the road. We had a couple losses here at home in a couple games that I felt like we controlled.
“I’m just happy with our group. Despite everything, we got the win, we held onto the lead which was important, and now we get to go on the road and continue to build on that.”
Perhaps even more importantly as the Celtics head out on the road: After the C’s played two overtime games earlier this week, both Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who had just 11 points, earned some rare extra rest as each of them sat the entire fourth quarter in the blowout victory.
Horford and Tatum — who both rested in Monday’s brutal loss to the Cavaliers — looked rejuvenated against the Blazers.
Horford looked especially fresh as he set the tone for 10 points in the first quarter. The Celtics made nine of their first 14 attempts from 3-point distance, and aided by triples from Sam Hauser, Brogdon and Tatum to open the second period, the C’s went on a 14-3 run to take a commanding 18-point lead.
“I think in general, just for our group was important for us to come out and respond,” Horford said of the fast start.
Then, the C’s made sure they didn’t experience deja vu again.
Boston’s 3-point shooting waned towards the end of the first half and bled into the second half. Strong defense — particularly in transition and on Portland star Damian Lillard, who was limited to just 27 points on 7-for-16 shooting — kept the Celtics in control but they saw their 21-point lead slip to 13 with 2:24 remaining in the third when Lillard found Trendon Watford for a bucket.
“I think we just got a little lackadaisical,” White said.
That’s been a trend of the last week, as human nature has taken over the C’s and the ensuing slippage led to losing double-digit leads in three consecutive brutal losses. But on Wednesday, they came up with the crucial response.
The C’s learned the brutal lessons of the last three games — all losses after having commanding second-half double-digit leads — with a crucial response. Tatum answered Watford’s floater with a 3-pointer, igniting an 11-2 run to end the third, capped by Tatum’s third triple in that surge with 4.9 seconds remaining. It gave the C’s a 22-point lead entering the fourth and they coasted from there.
“It’s important,” Horford said. “It’s what we needed. It’s what we’ve been talking about. Coach has been on us about finishing the quarters a little bit better, and Jayson took it and executed. Scored some big baskets for us.”
The Blazers — who are struggling to stay in the play-in race in the Western Conference — didn’t have the firepower to mount a comeback as the C’s reserves took a much-needed win home.
“I thought we just stayed with it,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought at the end of the third, OK, yeah, we got like four or five really good shots, they just didn’t fall. I thought we maintained our poise, we controlled the game with our transition defense and we just really fought to get a great look every time down.
“I thought we won all those margins and I think when you’re winning you have to do those things even more and I thought we did that.”
The victory brought the Celtics back within two games of the Bucks for first in the Eastern Conference. They know one win won’t solve all their problems, but it was certainly needed.
“I think we still didn’t have the sense of urgency that I think we need to show,” Brown said. “But I think that we’re taking steps in the right direction. I think that during the season, a long season, there’s a bunch of ups and downs and I think we’re working our way up. I think that’s the most important thing, that we found a way to get a win. But I think we need a little bit more urgency.”