BSJ Game Report: Blazers 97, Celtics 92 - Poor choices loom large in fourth straight defeat taken at TD Garden (Celtics)

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Celtics

BSJ Game Report: Blazers 97, Celtics 92 - Poor choices loom large in fourth straight defeat

By Brian Robb

Feb 28, 2019 • 12:25 am

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Everything you need to know about the Blazers beating the Celtics 97-92 with BSJ insight and analysis

Box Score 

HEADLINES

Outside shooting goes MIA for Celtics in fourth straight defeat: The Celtics were desperate for a win on Wednesday night against one of the hottest teams in the NBA and that mindset appeared to do more harm than good on the offensive end. The hosts had their second straight horrific shooting night from 3-point range (5-of-28) and coughed up 17 turnovers which forced them to play from behind for most of the evening. They kept things competitive thanks to an improved defensive effort against a high-powered Blazers offense (limiting them to just 42 percent shooting) but a lack of offensive execution and mistakes in big spots prevented them from coming all the way back from a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit. Damian Lillard had a game-high 33 points for the visitors who have now won five straight games overall. The Celtics meanwhile have dropped a season-high four games coming out of the All-Star Break despite Kyrie Irving scoring a team-high 31 points.

Stevens tightens rotation with Terry Rozier out: With the gap growing larger between the Celtics and a first-round playoff series with homecourt advantage, Brad Stevens leaned heavily on his top rotation pieces on the second half of the back-to-back. While Terry Rozier sat due to a sore knee, Stevens played just eight guys in the first half for the first time all year, declining to use deep bench pieces like Semi Ojeleye or Brad Wanamaker in place of Rozier. Seven players played 27 or more minutes, giving this game the feel of a playoff game with the minutes management as Stevens searched for some consistency among his core during the team’s ugliest slide of the year. It was a questionable move on the second end of a back-to-back with the offense struggling for much of the night.   

TURNING POINT

Marcus Smart had a chance to give the Celtics a realistic shot at an impressive comeback in the final minute after the team quickly trimmed a late 12-point deficit to five with 1:26 remaining. After a stop, Smart brought up the ball and hoisted up an ill-advised 3-point shot while trying to draw a foul early in the shot clock. The officials didn’t take the bait which opened the door for an easy transition basket for the Blazers off the rebound, essentially sealing the game with 36 seconds remaining.

TWO UP

Irving: The All-Star had a team-high 31 points on 14-of-24 shooting (3-5 3-PT), giving him his 12th 30-point game of the season. He has scored 30 or more points in four of the C’s last nine contests.

Jaylen Brown: The swingman played with great energy off the bench, recording the fourth double-double of his career and the second of the season. He tied his season-high with 10 rebounds and scored 10 points on 5-of-9 FG.

THREE DOWN

Gordon Hayward: Just three shot attempts and three points in 27 minutes. The Celtics desperately need him to be more aggressive, particularly on nights when the team is struggling to find consistent scoring outside of Irving.

Marcus Smart: He had a great fourth quarter for the first 11 minutes, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the frame. However, his shot attempt with the game on the line in the final 50 seconds lands him in this spot. It’s just an inexcusable mistake given the game situation.

Brad Stevens: The Celtics were pressing for most of the night and that seemed to include the head coach. Trimming the rotation down to eight players was a curious decision and a couple of fourth-quarter choices backfired as Rob Williams’ cameo was a disaster (easy dunk) and a late zone coverage call produced an easy layup for Portland. He’s got this team still playing hard but he’s still not sure what the right buttons to push are every night.

TOP PLAY




TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER


The Celtics may have finally realized that they aren’t good enough to win without defending:
It took 60 games but this was the type of game that was common all the time last season — an ugly offensive performance that remained competitive thanks to some gritty effort on the defensive end. There were a lot of mistakes littered throughout this game by a team that looked like it was constantly pressing as they searched desperately for a win, but effort was never a reason for the team’s failures and that’s been rare in recent losses.


“I feel like our guys play hard it’s just that -- at that level of play, that consistency that we need, that I felt like we played with the last two games before the break,” Al Horford said. “And, for whatever reason, as a team, we haven’t been doing that consistently. And tonight I felt like we did a really good job defensively.”


It’s a bit disturbing that a team with hopes of making the NBA Finals took this long to figure this out, but it’s progress (albeit small) nonetheless with 20 games remaining. Playing hard might not be good enough for this team but it’s a requirement for them to have a chance against elite competition. They took a baby step on that front tonight after a big step back against Toronto.   


The 3-point shooting is due to return to the mean:
The Celtics created a lot of quality 3-point looks on Wednesday night but they finished up with their second-worst shooting night of the year from downtown. To their credit, they didn’t overly lean on the 3 (just 28 attempts) but they have now shot just 11-of-58 from beyond the arc in the last two games. For a team that has shooting at every single position on the floor, you aren’t going to see many nights like this again this year.    

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