Boston Celtics fell to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night by a final score of 129-119. This game was tightly contested for the entire duration, until costly mistakes killed the Celtics late.
The Celtics came out hot from the field shooting 8-for-8. The Celtics displayed great ball movement and great fire and energy. But towards the end of the quarter the Celtics would the lose their momentum, and allow the Blazers to end the first quarter up 34-32.
It was an absolute shootout from both teams even with this high scoring game both teams played great defense in the 2nd quarter. as heading into the half it was all tied up at 71-71. Neither team was missing shots.
In the third quarter, the shootout would continue but the Blazers made a 6-0 run with 8:23 remaining in the third quarter extending their lead 84-79. The Celtics struggled to play defense. In the end of the quarter the Celtics made a big push as they held a 103-98 lead heading into the fourth.
The Celtics run was guided by impressive scoring from Aaron Nesmith and Jayson Tatum. The Celtics made great hustle plays down the stretch in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, The scoring battle would continue. as with 6:49 remaining in the fourth quarter the Blazers would take a 113-106 lead. With 2:27 to play a Even Fournier an three pointer would bring the Celtics within three making it 120-117. But a critical call with a minute to play would result Marcus Smart getting ejected.
In the final minutes the Blazers would continue to pull away. With 40 seconds Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown exit the game due to injury, after they collided with each other.
The Celtics had four starters score in double figures. Leading the way for the Celtics was Jayson Tatum with 33 points on 11-19 shooting, Evan Fournier also scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting. Jaylen Brown posted 16 points on 6-22 shooting, and Marcus Smart added 11 points on 4-14 shooting.
All five of the Blazers starters scored in double figures. Leading the way for the Blazers was Cj McCollum with 33 points on 12-20 shooting.
The Celtics fall to 34-31 on the season, and they will take on the Orlando Magic on Wednesday at 7:00pm EST.