Recap: Portland Trail Blazers 86, Boston Celtics 104 --Blazers Tossed Out Like Yesterday's Tea

In a Nutshell

Ouch.

Game Flow

The first period opened with the Boston Celtics playing like they had just gotten blown out and were looking for revenge. The Portland Trail Blazers, meanwhile, were asking, "What is this round, orange thing that they keep handing us?" It might as well have been a football, as well as Raymond Felton dribbled it. The Blazers might as well have been playing freeze tag for all they moved on offense. Portland's only real attack was LaMarcus Aldridge isolated in the post. Not being clueless, the Celtics were ready for that. They either forced Aldridge into misses or picked off weak passes when the Blazers tried to do something else. Failing to get back on defense after those TO's, the Blazers fell behind quickly. The only thing that saved them in the period was strong rebounding. Still, the Blazers trailed 27-17 at the end of the quarter.

Then the second period began and the rebounding went out the window. At that point the Blazers got killed. Gerald Wallace trying to score off the dribble? Wesley Matthews shooting deep leaners. More turnovers. More embarrassment. More Celtics conversions on the other end as the Blazers lagged behind. Boston scored 38 in the second. The Blazers managed 13. And they were lucky to get that. Portland walked into the locker room down 65-30. The Celtics had 11 steals in the half, and that's not counting Portland's other turnovers. Boston had 32 points in the paint, many of them off of fast breaks, when they don't score either normally.

With the Blazers more than doubled-up at the half, the last two quarters barely mattered. Boston 104, Portland 86. And it wasn't nearly that close.

Take-Away Points

The reports of some players on this team quitting have leaked out from the locker room and are now spilling like an oil slick all over the court. It's sad because some of the guys are trying but it barely matters when half of your teammates look like they're back playing AAU ball.

Individual Notes

Everybody stunk. Aldridge and Camby might be the exception, as they gave effort from the start. But the rest of the team dragged them down quickly.

Raymond Felton was horrific tonight. Just totally out there on his own and coughing up the ball. I used to criticize Sergio Rodriguez for not knowing what he was doing with the ball but Sergio on his WORST nights wasn't close to tonight's performance from Raymond.

Wesley Matthews, is it too much to ask for a little squaring up on the jumper?

Gerald Wallace should not be put in the position of having to post and create iso offense in the halfcourt. That dribble is ugly.

Jamal Crawford hit 3-4 shots but...ugh.

There's no use even continuing here.

Fun With Numbers

Don't ask, don't tell. Just check the boxscore.

Oh heck...OK. Boston 21 fast break points (PDX 7), 27 assists (PDX only 12), and Blazers 28 turnovers.

Final Thoughts

The Blazers have now put themselves in a tough predicament, having to go on an amazing run against Washington, New York, and some good teams in order to keep this road trip from turning into a disaster. If they find a way to lose against the Wizards this already ugly situation is going to get epic.

CelticsBlog is through that link, but don't go if you're on a grief bender.

Your Jersey Contest Scoreboard and the form for tomorrow's game.

--Dave (blazersub@gmail.com)