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Allen Crabbe had 15 points, Tim Frazier had 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists, but the Portland Trail Blazers fell in their first action of the Summer League, losing to the Boston Celtics, 85-76 in Las Vegas Saturday night.
Portland took the advantage early with two first quarter steals by Frazier and six early points by Malcolm Thomas. The Blazers had a six point lead, but Marcus Smart rallied with 12 points on four 3s. R.J. Hunter and C.J. Fair added five points, to give the Celtics a ten point lead after one. Thomas led the scoring for Portland with six, Crabbe had four, and Pat Connaughton and Andre Dawkins both had three.
The Portland offense went ice cold to start the second quarter, with Luis Montero contributing the only basket of the first half of the quarter, compounded with five Blazer turnovers. The Celtics led by as many as 20, taking three times as many free throws as Portland (24-8). Crabbe started the rally for the squad from the Rose City, hitting a spinning jump shot, stealing the ball from Smart, and converting the fast break. Connaughton drilled another three to cut the lead to 13, but Portland's shooting cooled off again, and Boston led by 18 at halftime. Crabbe led the scoring in the quarter with four. The Blazers shot just 33% from the field in the first half, compared to the 46.4% for Boston.
Portland started to gel in the third quarter, with Crabbe scoring seven points to lead a 16-4 run. Thomas and Dawkins combined for seven as well, and the Blazers cut the lead down to just six. Controversy struck with 1:34 remaining in the period as Arnett Moultrie committed a flagrant foul on Smart with a hard hit to Smart's face. A brief scrum was quickly cleared up. Boston would take a seven point lead into the final period. Frazier led the Blazer scoring with seven, Crabbe added six, and Thomas had four.
Portland got the lead down to as little as four in the fourth quarter, but six straight points by Hunter gave Boston a double-digit advantage. Combined with seven Blazer turnovers, Portland simply would not complete the rally. One final push closed the gap to three with under a minute to play, but Boston was able to finish the game.
Dawkins finished with nine points. Connaughton had nine points and four rebounds. Thomas had 13 points and 9 rebounds.