The Boston Celtics defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 120-111 at Moda Center on Thursday.
The Celtics (34-19) improved to 15-11 on the road and pulled closer to the 1-seed Cleveland Cavaliers with the tough road victory against the Blazers (23-31). Portland got off to a strong start and led the game at the half 55-49, but an explosive offensive outburst by the Celtics in the final period where Boston scored 43 points was enough to tilt the matchup in their favor. Boston was down as many as 15 points at one point earlier on, however, Isaiah Thomas, who has built upon his league leading fourth quarter points total, put up another big 15 points in the final period. Thomas went on to lead all scorers with 34 points in the contest.
Portland saw most of their offense from three specific players. Unsurprisingly, the backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum combined for 48 points on 38 shots, while Al-Farouq Aminu poured in 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting off the bench. Portland out shot the Celtics from both the field and behind the arc, but Boston had a major advantage on steals (8-4) and turnovers (8-15), which was part of the reason the Blazers were unable to hold on to their lead. Celtics rookie Jaylen Brown had an all around solid performance with 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two three-pointers made.
Next up, the Celtics visit the Utah Jazz on Saturday, while the Blazers take some time off before hosting the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
