----- Jayson Tatum scores 36 points and Jaylen Brown adds 24 as the Boston Celtics top the Portland Trail Blazers 118-106 Tuesday night at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
The short-handed Trail Blazers delivered a solid effort Tuesday night, but the Celtics and a barrage of three-pointers was too much for the home team to overcome.
Jayson Tatum scorched the Blazers for 36 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 24 points and seven rebounds as the Boston Celtics earned their 40th victory on the season 118-106 over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The game was won at the three-point line where the Celtics burned the Blazers connecting on 19-of-39 from beyond-the-arc. Tatum connected on a career-high 8-of-12 from three-point range.
“Boston’s a really good team," Stotts said. "Even without Kemba out there, they’re experienced, they’re talented offensively, they’re very well coached, so hats off to them. Jayson Tatum got in a groove in the second half, he’s just in a heck of a rhythm with his shot... I liked the way our guys competed, we didn’t take advantage of some of our opportunities, but other than that I thought we gave a good effort.”
CJ McCollum led Portland (26-33) with 28 points and 10 assists following his 41-point performance Sunday against the Pistons.
“We have to be better than we played tonight against teams like the Celtics to win," McCollum said. "I think that was the difference. They played better than us. They’re a deep team. They made shots, they got stops, they ran on our turnovers and they played like a playoff team.”
The Blazers struggled to protect the basketball committing 17 turnovers leading to 19 points for the Celtics. 10 of those came in the first half when the Celtics took control of the game after a hot start by Portland in the first quarter.
The Blazers took an early 17-12 lead, but the Celtics led 28-24 at the end of the first quarter thanks to three 3-pointers by Marcus Smart. The Celtics extended their lead to 11-points in the second quarter before taking a 56-48 lead into the halftime break.
The Celtics opened the game up in the third quarter outscoring the Blazers 29-22.
Up Next- The Trail Blazers start a three-game road trip Thursday in Indiana against the Pacers. The game is scheduled to tip off at 5:00 PM.
Chad's Take- Blazers battled, but not enough material to beat the Celtics with a red-hot Jayson Tatum.