The Boston Celtics struggled out of the gate, but took a second quarter lead on the Portland Trailblazers. Then Nicolas Batum got hot to end the half and to start the third quarter. The Celtics also had no answer for LaMarcus Aldridge in this game, which really shouldn’t be a surprise considering the lack of size.
The C’s fall 109-96 overshadowing a big night from Jared Sullinger.
The Green
Sully had a career high 26 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Once again, his impact on this game was immediate and palpable. He was on fire tonight, going 11-18 from the field, including 2-4 from 3. What more can I say about him? The kid’s been great this season.
Gerald Wallace continues to have a non-box-score positive impact on this team. He was a +3 in a 13 point loss, and his 4 steals were a huge part of that.
The Gross
Kelly Olynyk struggled with foul trouble most of the night. He was very ineffective in this one.
Take Sully’s 11-18 shooting out of the mix and the rest of the Celtics were 26-63 (41.2%).
The Celtics turned the ball over way too much early in this game. They really had a chance to beat a good team tonight, but 12 first-half turnovers (12 points) completely changed the face of this game. The C’s went into halftime down 6 instead of possibly having a lead. And a lot of these turnovers were lazy or bad plays, not great Portland D.
The Greenlights
Avery Bradley with the big follow slam
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1kjoSto8LQ]The Grid
- Jordan Crawford: 4-12 fg, 11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds
- Jeff Green: 4-12 fg (0-4 3pt), 14 points, 4 rebounds
- Rebounds: Portland 47 – Celtics 34
- LaMarcus Aldridge: 27 points (11-18 fg), 12 rebounds.
The Celtics are still struggling to do some simple things. There were a few times where Jeff Green was running up the sideline alone and the team didn’t get it to him despite so many positive things happening for Green when he gets the ball in those situations.
If the Celtics are going to win this year, it’s going to have to be by pushing the ball, and it’s going to have to involve Jeff Green being aggressive. If the team is going to give other teams an assist by helping them take Green out of the game, then the team is going to have problems.
When Jeff Green is around half court and his defender is at the 3 point line, give him the goddamn ball, and see if he can use his freakish athleticism to spur something. If they cut him off, then you’re in the same half-court set you were getting into anyway.
These are the frustrating things about this team right now. They may change in time, either with the current rotation, or when Rondo comes back. But it needs to change.
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