Celtics-Trail Blazers takeaways: C’s survive wild fourth quarter in Portland originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics looked more like their pre-All-Star break selves Friday night in Portland.
It’s been a rocky stretch for the C’s, but their performance vs. the Trail Blazers marked one of their best since the calendar flipped to March. At least, it did for three-and-a-half quarters.
Boston maintained a double-digit lead for most of the game but watched their 21-point lead dwindle to eight in the fourth quarter. Blazers star Damian Lillard dropped 25 points in the frame to lead Portland’s valiant comeback effort, but the Celtics held on to earn a 126-112 victory.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with 34 points. Jaylen Brown notched 27 points of his own while Marcus Smart tallied 15.
Lillard finished with a game-high 41 points. Anfernee Simons was the Trail Blazers’ second-highest scorer with 17.
The Celtics improve to 49-22 on the season with the win. They’ll look to earn their third straight victory when they visit the Utah Jazz on Saturday.
First, here are our takeaways from Friday’s game in Portland.
Jayson Tatum makes up for shooting woes
Tatum is in the midst of a brutal shooting stretch. Over his last three games, he’s just 4-for-29 from 3-point range. He was 2-for-11 from beyond the arc on Saturday night.
The four-time All-Star found other ways to dominate against the NBA’s worst defense. His nine free throws in the first quarter marked the most first-quarter free throws in his career. He finished with 15 points in the frame and continued to get to the line consistently.
Tatum was 16-for-18 from the charity stripe for the game, meaning almost half of his 34 points came from free throws. He was 6-for-9 on shots inside the arc.
The Celtics will hope Tatum’s shot returns sooner rather than later, but Saturday showed he doesn’t need to live by the 3 ball to be effective. The 25-year-old added 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals to his stat line.
Big night for the big men
Boston’s bigs were dominant from start to finish against Portland. It started with veteran Al Horford, who set the tone early with a pair of 3s and is now shooting 26-for-43 from deep in March.
Horford also made an enormous difference as a playmaker as he enjoyed his first 10-assist game since 2019. He finished with 12 points (4-6 FG, 3-4 3PT), 10 assists, and five rebounds.
Blake Griffin continued to be a force on the offensive glass, which…