Final: Celtics 115, Blazers 93 - Tatum leads bounceback win

Game 66: Celtics (-10) vs Portland Trail Blazers, 7:30 p.m., TD Garden, NBCS Boston 

Injuries: 

Boston: OUT- Danilo Gallinari, Robert Williams (hamstring), Payton Pritchard (heel)

Portland: OUT- Anfernee Simons (ankle), Justise Winslow (ankle), Ryan Arcidiacano (back), Ibou Badji (knee), 

Blazers probable starters: Damian Lillard, Cam Reddish, Jusuf Nurkic, Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle

Refs: Bill Kennedy (#55), Jacyn Goble (#68), Dannica Mosher (#89)

A little something about this game: Nurkic makes his return after being out since February 1 with a calf injury. The Blazers have won two straight after losing five of six. This is the fourth game of a six-game road trip for Portland. Damian Lillard is the league’s third-leading scorer at 32.4 points per game.

Things I’m looking for:

- Building, and holding, a lead: The last thing the Celtics want to face is another game where things get iffy late while Lillard is on the other side of the floor. If he smells blood in the water, the Celtics will be buried under an avalanche of Dame-time 3-pointers. The best thing they can do is demonstrate a healthy respect for this and put Portland away early. 

- End of quarter execution: Part of Boston’s problem they seem to relax at the end of quarters, and that cascades out of control.

“Situational basketball,” Joe Mazzulla said before the game. “Situationally, we lost the third quarter to the Knicks 11-5, we lost three quarters in the last two minutes to the Cavs. The fourth quarter we lost 9-5. We gave up nine offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. So it's all about situational basketball, winning the end of quarters, winning the beginning of quarters, getting back in transition, rebounding at the end of games.”

- More Derrick White: I almost don’t care how they do it anymore, they just need to put White in the game in key situations. Mazzulla has admitted that himself. 

Find a way. He plays the style the Celtics need to play. 

- Play fast, stay fast: Speaking of which, I asked Mazzulla why the team’s pace slows down so much in the fourth quarter. 

“I think that's just natural,” he said. “I think most teams that's just kind of how it is. I try to fight that, I think we should play just as fast, but you still have to execute. I think it’s a feel of the game. But at the end of the day, we're up 12 with three and a half minutes to go and we give up six offensive rebounds. So that's the narrative. Get back in transition, rebound the basketball, game’s over.”

They still have to stay fast. If Mazzulla is trying to fight it and it’s still slowing down too much, then he has to put the personnel in the game to execute how he wants them to.

Follow along below or in the comments during the game, chime in, and let’s have fun.