Final: Celtics 128, Blazers 124 -- Brown saves C's late

The Celtics looked like they had this one wrapped up early in the second half after building a 24-point lead that remain steady over the first 30 minutes of the game. The Blazers are a desperate team playing for the postseason however and have a top-10 player in the game in Damian Lillard. The All-Star started to get hot as the C’s defense slacked, turning a 24-point deficit into a four-point lead midway through the fourth quarter behind 26 second half points. The Celtics managed to counterpoint late however with Kemba Walker (minutes limit) watching from the bench thanks to the scoring heroics of Jayson Tatum (34 points) and Jaylen Brown (30 points) who combined to score 13 straight points at one point of the fourth quarter on their way to leading Boston to a 128-124 win.

It was the first win for the C’s in the Orlando bubble and pulls them a full two games ahead of the Heat in the race for the No. 3 seed with a matchup looming between the two squads on Tuesday night in Orlando.

First Half Notes

—Celtics started attacking mismatches on switches early on in this contest and didn’t look back.

—They shot 60 percent as a team in the first quarter and a scorching hot 8-of-12 from 3-point range.

—Hayward led the way early by making all 3 of his shots from deep.

—Kemba Walker was perfect doing his first four shots as well, continuing what has been a terrific two games for him in Orlando so far.

—C’s getting the best version of Marcus Smart in Orlando with him chipping in 2 blocks and 2 steals in the first half on top of two assists and great shot creation for his teammates. He’s keeping his shots down as well, taking just one in his first 13 minutes

—After another slow start shooting Tatum erupted in the second quarter, scoring 15 of his game-high 21 points in the frame to help the C’s run up an early lead to 22 points.

—Blazers just don’t have the wing defenders to stick with the C’s in this matchup, particularly without Trevor Ariza in the fold. That has left the best wing defenders for the Blazers as Camrlo Anthony and Mario Hezonja, complete mismatches for the C’s.

—Good energy for Kanter in his matchup with former teammates. He had 8 points and 4 offensive rebounds, taking advantage of the Blazers being out of position down low.

—Grant Williams and Semi Ojeleye both keeping a taste of early minutes while Wanamaker saw his minutes cut against a tough Blazers backcourt matchup.

—For as good as the C’s have been offensively early, they’ve been even better containing the Blazers guards. McCollum and Lillard combined for just 12 points in the first half on 4-of-15 shooting from the field. With little firepower across the rest of the roster, C’s are doing their job neutralizing the big threats.

• Kemba Walker will see a slight uptick in his minutes limit to 17-23 after playing 20 minutes in the opener against the Bucks on Friday night.


• The Blazers are 1-0 so far in the bubble putting them in striking distance of the No. 8 seed out West. The C's beat them in their only head-to-head meeting so far this year but that team is a far cry from the one that is in Orlando thanks to a return of two starting bigs in Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic. “Night and day," Stevens said of Blazers now compared to earlier in the year. "I mean, it’s just night and day. Whiteside’s tremendous, but he still has to – now they’ve got 48 minutes of elite rim protection, they’re back in pick and rolls some like we played against the other day that we struggled with at the rim. We’ve gotta make better decisions. And the guards are just so good."


• With Portland playing so big in the frontcourt including with Carmelo Anthony at small forward, this may be a game where guys like Rob Williams and Grant Williams get a chance to provide some additional strength and rim protection down low. "No. 1 is, you obviously have to deal with their size and their strength and their post-ups, and their rebounding," Stevens said of defending the Blazers. "But No. 2 is the speed of the guards and the skill of the guards is still going to be at the forefront of everybody’s mind all the time, so those two things don’t always go hand in hand when you think about just matching size with size. We’ll play, in the first half, what we think will look best for us and then we’ll adjust accordingly."


• A loss to Portland would put the Celtics down to just a one-game lead over Miami in the race for the No. 3 seed.