NBA: Celtics wake up too late in Portland for Theis comeback

Portland Trail Blazers beat Boston Celtics 100-94 to win their fourth game in a row. After a high lead in the first half, the visitors from Boston rebuild themselves again, but in the end they still lose. Daniel Theis, on the other hand, makes his comeback.

No surprises for either team. Portland sent his usual Starting Five on the court, while Boston Kyrie Irving was back after his break in Utah. The Blazers got a much better start, because Jusuf Nurkic was quick with ten points. The Bosnian was used several times by Damian Lillard (5 points, 6 assists), who played a virtually flawless first quarter.

The Celtics did not get going until the end of the first twelve minutes thanks to Jayson Tatum, but were still behind (21:26). The guests seemed to be caught, but the otherwise so good defense revealed some concentration errors and sleepy rotations. Portland felt that every possession of the ball got an open throw and ran hot from a distance.

The Celtics, on the other hand, also dropped off offensively and fell into old patterns of the past games. Too little penetration and ball movement led to massively closely defended throws from the middle distance. With up to 21 points the Celtics were behind in the second quarter, at the break it was still 17 (37:54).

After that it became curious, it took a few minutes until we could play again, because a basket system was crooked. At first the ladder was too short, then it took a while for a spirit level to be raised to straighten the basket again.

But not only the basket was repaired, also the guests from Boston made now a clearly better impression. Driven by Kyrie Irving, the gap was quickly pushed into the single-digit range, and Tatum also hit a few threes, some with the highest degree of difficulty. Boston was now fully in the game, but the Blazers held against it and hit in critical moments again and again important throws, so the Blazers ended the quarter with a 12:4 run (83:70).

For Boston Daniel Theis (0, 2 rebounds in 5 minutes) celebrated his comeback after injury and with him the guests turned up again. The Celtics opened the final section with a 13:2 run, the good Marcus Morris got from downtown the interim suppression (86:86). But Portland answered with C.J. McCollum and went into Crunchtime with a small lead, because Boston missed seven throws in a row.

Irving fought back once more, but for Portland Al-Farouq Aminu became the secret hero, who sunk two three in a row, the second from over 9 meters distance to 100:94 for the Blazers one minute before the end. Neither Uncle Drew nor Tatum, who was inconspicuous in the final phase, could counter this.

Aminu scratched a double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds, which Nurkic (18, 17 rebounds) was loose. Lillard (19, 12 Assists) and McCollum (14) also had their share in the success. For Boston, Tatum (27, 9/18 FG), Irving (21, 5 Steals) and Morris (13) were the most conspicuous actors.

Portland Trail Blazers (10-3) vs. Boston Celtics (7-6) 100:94 (BOXSCORE)

Damian Lillard. The Blazers-Guard was perhaps not as hot as in other games, but this time Dame gave a strong Floor General, which harmonized especially well with Nurkic in Pick’n’Roll. In the third quarter with some weak phases, but in the Crunchtime the playmaker was again fully there and used Aminu and colleagues again exemplary, without forcing thereby the own throw too much.

Jaylen Brown. That was nothing from the forward. He was no offensive factor at all and Brown was no help at the back of the field against Lillard or McCollum. In the end there were 7 points (2/7 FG) in 28 minutes, which were embellished by a short phase at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

It smelled a bit like a comeback in the second half and that was also because coach Brad Stevens brought Marcus Smart in the third quarter after only three minutes and put him on Lillard, who then made some bad decisions and brought the Celtics back into the game. Brown spent more time with the Second Unit later and got better. The formation of Terry Rozier, Brown, Gordon Hayward, Morris and Theis made it once again exciting.